Critical Selection Criteria for Your ICD-10 Training

ICD-10 training and education represents approximately 30% to 40% of your entire ICD-10 transition. It is truly the most significant portion of being ready for ICD-10.

 

When selecting a vendor to provide your ICD-10 training, consider the following important qualifying factors:

 

Seek training from those who you know are skilled and effective at being educators and presenters. Lots of people know how to code, but how many can actually teach what they know to others? Use an organization which not only has an expertise in coding but also understands the education arena and understands how to accomplish learning objectives.

 

Make sure the entity providing the training is capable of preparing your coders for certification and your clinicians in clinical documentation. They should also offer continuing education beyond the ICD-10 transition to help keep your coders certified.

 

Don’t hesitate to view a demonstration of the course and to ask for the review of their curriculum.

Ensure that the course is taught at the appropriate level for you. Because ICD-10 is new to everyone, I recommend starting with something very fundamental. This includes even those who may have many years of ICD-9-CM experience; it will be somewhat like learning a different system. Expand to more complex and comprehensive training in the 16-18 months prior to the implementation date. Remember; take baby steps so that the transition isn’t so overwhelming! A few on-line training programs give the student the ability to test out of certain topics if they can show mastery, thus not having to take a class they already have an expertise in. With ICD-10, most people will need to take all classes, but it is good to have this option.

 

Focus training based on your needs. If you are a professional services coder (e.g., CPC) you only need to learn ICD-10-CM unless you plan on also being an inpatient facility coder.

 

Explore training mediums and options that best fit your organizational needs. In most cases, online training should be the majority of your strategy for training coders as there are so many to train and it is the most cost effective way to reach everyone. Some may learn best in a live class, while others may fare better via a webinar, specifically physicians, may prefer more of a hybrid approach with a combination of the above.

 

There are some very good on-line training programs. When choosing one, you should make sure that is very interactive. There are only handfuls that offer actual interaction with professors and give the student an ability to ask questions and have lectures different than what they are reading on-line. Also, make sure the training is performance based and there is testing along the way. Finally, make sure that the program selected for ICD-10 training can provide regular reports on the progress of those being trained. It is critical to be able to track the progress of coders, physicians and others as they go through their ICD-10 training.

 

There are many things to consider as we move closer to October 1, 2013 and continue to tackle the items on your ICD-10-CM/PCS training checklist. The key points I highlighted above is certainly not an all-inclusive-list but is a good guide. A fair number of people have asked me lately whether there is only one place to learn ICD-10-CM/PCS, and I wanted everyone to know you have alternatives just like you do now for education on CPT/HCPCS II and ICD-9-CM.