Physicians Need to Get Ready Despite Delay
Boca Raton, FL – April 2, 2014 – Modernizing Medicine, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based, specialty-specific electronic medical record (EMR) systems, responded today to the “Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014” President Barack Obama signed on Tuesday that prevents the Secretary of Health and Human Services from adopting ICD-10 code sets before October 1, 2015.
“There might be a delay in the transition to ICD-10, but this doesn’t mean it’s going away,” said Modernizing Medicine’s CEO and founder Dan Cane in statement issued after the signing of the bill. “It’s good news for medical providers, who now have another year to get ready for the changeover, but it doesn’t mean doctors should put off preparations. We still expect ICD-10 to happen, even if it means there is a bit of a reprieve before it actually takes effect.”
Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer Michael Sherling, M.D., who along with Cane developed the Electronic Medical Assistant® (EMA™), cautioned that while it’s tempting to breathe a sigh of relief at what feels like a narrow escape, it’s really an extension of the eleventh hour and doctors need to get ready.
“ICD-10 isn’t a compliance issue like Meaningful Use in which you receive a penalty if you don’t comply, instead it is a matter of business and revenue,” said Sherling. With ICD-10, there is a massive increase in medical and diagnostic codes from 13,000 to over 140,000. “If you don’t have the right billing codes, you simply won’t get paid.”
Sherling recommends that providers use this added time to more thoroughly vet the ICD-10 readiness of their technology vendors. “We have a list of questions that we recommend providers use in their vetting process,” said Sherling, “including asking if an EMR system uses look-up tables or General Equivalence Mappings (GEMs).” Sherling explained that many EMR system providers have used these approaches in the scramble to have an ICD-10-ready solution.
According to Sherling, the problem with these workarounds is that they are tedious and may require extra steps and time, adding minutes per patient. “This is the time to check that out, and determine if it is really an ideal strategy for their practice” Sherling said. “Doctors should ask to see a demonstration of how long a system takes to generate the code and the superbill. Ideally, it should be automatically generated with the exam note.”
About Modernizing Medicine
Modernizing Medicine® is transforming how healthcare information is created, consumed and utilized in order to increase efficiency and improve outcomes. Our product, Electronic Medical Assistant® (EMA™), is a cloud-based, specialty-specific electronic medical record (EMR) system with a massive library of built-in medical content. Available as a native iPad application or from any web-enabled Mac or PC, EMA adapts to each provider’s unique style of practice and is designed to interface with hundreds of different practice management systems. Today, Modernizing Medicine provides specialty-specific offerings for the dermatology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology and plastic and cosmetic surgery markets, and to more than 1,300 physician practices across the country. In 2013 Modernizing Medicine was listed on Forbes’ annual ranking of America’s Most Promising Companies.
For more information, contact:
Tara Auclair Ryan
561-880-2998 x321
Ryan Lilly
978-518-4533
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