Effective October 1, providers submit claims with ICD-10-CM codes. As they adapt to this new system, physicians, clinical staff, and billers should be relying on feedback from each other to achieve a successful transition. On July 6, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in conjunction with the AMA, issued a letter to the provider community offering ICD-10-CM guidance. The joint announcement and guidance regarding ICD-10 flexibilities minimizes the anxiety that often accompanies change and clarifies a few key points about claim scrutiny.1
According to the correspondence, “CMS is releasing additional guidance that will allow for flexibility in the claims auditing and quality reporting process as the medical community gains experience using the new ICD-10 code set.”1 The guidance specifies the flexibility that will be used during the first 12 months of ICD-10-CM use.
This “flexibility” is an opportunity and should not be disregarded. Physician practices can effectively use this time to become accustomed to the ICD-10-CM system, correct coding principles, and payer policy requirements. Internal audit and review processes should increase in order to correct or confirm appropriate coding and claim submission.
Valid Codes
Medicare review contractors are instructed “not to deny physician or other practitioner claims billed under the Part B physician fee schedule through either automated medical review or complex medical review based solely on the specificity of the ICD-10 diagnosis code as long as the physician/practitioner used a valid code from the right family.”2 This “flexibility” will only occur for the first 12 months of ICD-10-CM implementation; the ultimate goal is for providers to assign the correct diagnosis code and the appropriate level of specificity after one year.
The “family code” allowance should not be confused with provision of an incomplete or truncated diagnosis code; these types of codes will always result in claim denial. The ICD-10-CM code presented on the claim form must be carried out to the highest character available for that particular code.
For example, an initial encounter involving an infected peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) is reported with ICD-10-CM T80.212A (local infection due to central venous catheter). An individual unfamiliar with ICD-10-CM nomenclature may not realize that the seventh extension character of the code is required to carry the code out to its highest level of specificity. If T880.212 is mistakenly reported because the encounter detail (i.e., initial encounter [A], subsequent encounter [D], or sequela [S]) was not documented or provided to the biller, the payers’ claim edit system will identify this as a truncated or invalid diagnosis and reject the claim. Therefore, the code is required to be complete. The “flexibility” refers to reporting the code that best reflects the documented condition. As long as the reported code comes from the same family of codes and is valid, the claim cannot be denied.
Code Families
Code families are “codes within a category [that] are clinically related and provide differences in capturing specific information on the type of condition.”3 Upon review, Medicare will allow ICD-10-CM codes from the same code family to be reported on the claim without penalty if the most accurate code is not selected.
For example, a patient with COPD with acute exacerbation is admitted to the hospital. During the 12-month “flexibility” period, the claim could include J44.9 (COPD, unspecified) without being considered erroneous. The most appropriate code, however, is J44.1 (COPD with acute exacerbation). During the course of the hospitalization, if the physician determines that the COPD exacerbation was caused by an acute lower respiratory infection, J44.0 (COPD with acute lower respiratory infection) is the best option.