Medical Coding: from ambiguity to certainty

“As we try to analyze the staggering impact of approximated coding and deciphering, the ensuing ICD-10 with over 150,000 codes, the Systematized Nomenclature for Medicine (SNOMED) with over 11 axes for accommodating comprehensive list of codes, and the HIPAA 5010 Compliance for Medical Reporting should come as much the needed relief for the vested interests in the medical eco-system – patients, physicians, and the Federal Healthcare Department. But, for the physicians who hitherto have had exhausting experience with medical coding, the ensuing system could seem even more arduous.”

Despite a progressive system of medical coding of diagnosis and treatment of diverse diseases, a perfect system of coding and deciphering still remains elusive – although the current ICD-10 boasts of over 150,000 codes as against 15,000 to begin with sometime back, the diversity of diseases has grown to be such that we still ponder over an ideal coding and deciphering scenario. While physicians have had to confine their medical reporting to the scope of the prevailing ICD system, it has been no secret that they have invariably been thriving on coding and deciphering approximation all these years. But, with such overtly excessive approximation of coding and deciphering proving to be detrimental to an efficient medical eco-system, there needs to be an immediate rationalization of the system.

And, as we witness at the cumulatively accumulated impact of coding and deciphering approximation, it becomes evidently clear that we have been compromising on:

  • Patient Health Reporting: A lenient Patient Health Reporting with coding approximation could have contributed to generalization of medical conditions that required distinctive reporting. Such unabated practice could even have contributed to imperfect reference for subsequent clinical management of patient’s medical condition.
  • Medical Billing: Like in the case of Patient Health Reporting, generalization and approximation of coding and deciphering could have also been responsible for under realization of medical claims from health insurance providers. Subsequent to such under realization, practices’ ability to sustain and grow amidst stiff healthcare competition could have been hampered.
  • Macro Clinical Research and Management: At a macro-level, the resultant effect could have impacted on a collaborative research and management of diseases, resulting in slowing up the pace of discovering newer breakthroughs in medical research and clinical management.

As we try to analyze the staggering impact of approximated coding and deciphering, the ensuing ICD-10 with over 150,000 codes, the Systematized Nomenclature for Medicine (SNOMED) with over 11 axes for accommodating comprehensive list of codes, and the HIPAA 5010 Compliance for Medical Reporting should come as much the needed relief for the vested interests in the medical eco-system – patients, physicians, and the Federal Healthcare Department. But, for the physicians who hitherto have had exhausting experience with medical coding, the ensuing system could seem even more arduous.

While the physician community contemplates on riding over this storm, the medical billing outsourcing should prove to be the possible recourse. Medicalbillersandcoders.com– possessing the requisite competence: a diverse pool of qualified medical billing experts with proven credentials as certification from American Association of Professional Coders (AAPC); application of advanced billing technology interface and coding interface with proficiency in applying standard CPT, HCPCS procedure and supply codes, and ICD diagnosis coding as per CMS guidelines and HIPAA compliant medical reporting; and possessing a successful track-record of processing medical bills with the leading Government and private insurance carriers – should make your billing and coding compliant. 54HB96JNCJP2


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