ICD-10 Update Summary
Updates to the ICD-10 code set normally occur annually and become effective on October 1st. Due to “COVID-19 being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization” and “the urgent need to capture the reporting of this condition in our nation’s claims and surveillance data”, the CDC has announced that the official effective date of the new diagnosis code “U07.1, COVID-19” will be moved up to April 1, 2020. According to the CDC, “this off-cycle change is unprecedented” and is being done via an exception found “under the National Emergencies Act Section 201 and 301”.
Due to the fluidity of the circumstances, there may be further changes or updated guidance on the use of this code, however, interim coding guidance can be found on this CDC page.
At the time of writing, the exact language of changes becoming effective can be found in this document.
ICD-10 EMR Updates
Be sure to update your EMR’s ICD-10 library, applicable code sets, and favorites to include the code for increased efficiency. Be sure not to submit the new code for dates of service prior to the effective date unless instructed to by a specific payer. Most EMR’s allow you to set an effective date which helps to prevent accidentally doing so and the resulting denials.
If you need assistance in adding the new code to your practice’s Electronic Medical Records (EMR) / Electronic Practice Management (EPM) system, please don’t hesitate to contact us for a quote. It is usually quick and therefore inexpensive, in most systems.
Denial and Rejection Monitoring
While payers who require ICD-10 codes, should be prepared for and able to accept the new code immediately, it’s not uncommon to run into clearinghouse or payer-specific issues just after a change. Because of this, it’s extremely important to closely monitor and ensure payers are correctly processing claims containing new codes.
