Addendum
ICD- 10—The New Teacher’s Pet
ICD- 10 will take its
seat at the front of
the class this coming
school semester.
Audio Extra
An ICD- 10 education could be the ticket to a
job for the 2011 freshman class, one educator
says. Hear more in this audio feature.
THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY’S TRANSITION to ICD-10-
CM/PCS will ramp up in August as educators begin teaching
ICD- 10 as the primary classification system.
An AHIMA-developed timeline for transitioning academic institutions to ICD- 10 recommends the new code set be taught
as the current classification system in associate and baccalaureate HIM degree programs starting with the August 2011
academic year. ICD- 9 should be taught as a legacy system,
according to the practice brief titled “Advancing the Academic
Transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS.” Shorter coding certificate programs will not begin transitioning their curriculum until August 2012.
Students beginning an associate’s degree HIM program next
month will graduate in May 2013, just five months before the
ICD- 10 conversion deadline of October 1, 2013. Many HIM
faculty are being trained on ICD- 10 this summer, and school
curriculum committees will be busy implementing their final
changes to HIM courses.
Staff will be ready to focus on ICD- 10 at West Virginia
Northern Community College, according to Korene Silvestri,
Faculty at the college plan to discuss with new
students how much or little they want to learn
about ICD- 9 during the program. With their graduation date so close to the ICD- 10 deadline, many
students will not have a chance to code in ICD- 9
before the transition, Silvestri says.
While healthcare facilities have hired consultants
and scrambled to ensure they’re ready for ICD- 10,
Silvestri says educators have less to worry about
with their transition.
After training staff and modifying their curriculum
for ICD- 10, the act of teaching students on the new
code set doesn’t differ much from teaching ICD- 9.
“When you introduce a group of students to ICD- 10
that know nothing of ICD- 9, they don’t know the difference,” Silvestri says. “It is just another class to them.” ¢
