General Surgery Coding Alert

Mark your calendars for ICD-10 dry-run.

Even if you think your general surgery practice is ready for the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10, who couldn’t use a test drive before the Oct. 1, 2014 conversion deadline?

Opportunity: You’ll get to see how well you’re doing with your ICD-10 coding skills this spring with a dry run. CMS plans to offer practices who want to submit sample ICD-10 claims the opportunity to test their mettle before the actual deadline. CMS announced the move in an MLN Matters article MM8465.

Note the dates: During the week of March 3 through March 7, 2014, your MAC will allow you to send in your test claims that include ICD-10 codes. If you have difficulty processing the claims, you’ll be able to contact the help desk to figure out what went wrong. In addition, you will get electronic acknowledgement of your test claims that will tell you whether they were accepted or rejected.

After the testing period ends, CMS will share information about the percentage of test claims that were accepted versus rejected, and will offer additional information about lessons learned during the testing period.

To read more about the ICD-10 test dates, visit www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNMattersArticles/Downloads/MM8465.pdf