Software Solutions/EHR

Eyefinity: Your Partner in the Transition to ICD-10

SPONSORED CONTENT

Sept. 2, 2015

By Candice Davis
Vice-President, Professional Services, Eyefinity

ICD-10 represents a significant shift in the coding and billing process at optometric practices. An EHR system like Eyefinity EHR can make this transition smoother, and even help boost efficiency.

Successfully mastering the transition to ICD-10 is essential to continued practice profitability and growth. It is legally required that all entities and healthcare providers, including eyecare professionals covered by HIPAA, must use ICD-10 codes for dates of service on or after October 1, 2015. Insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid, will not process claims or pay reimbursements if ICD-10 codes are not used for dates of service on or after October 1, 2015.

Prepare for Big Change

ICD-9 has limited data about patients’ medical conditions. ICD-10 accommodates newly developed diagnoses, innovations in technology and treatment, and provides more detailed data to better analyze disease patterns and manage patient care. Both of our electronic health record solutions—Eyefinity EHR and ExamWRITER—provide true built-in auto-coding that will generate ICD-10 codes based on the doctor’s exam notes. Best of all, these codes will automatically transfer to your Eyefinity practice management solution—no duplicate entry required.

“The beauty of Eyefinity EHR is you and your staff do not need to do anything differently; the same exam with new codes.”

–Robert Bass, OD, FAAO,

owner of Optometric Associates, PC, in Manassas, Va.

Click HERE to read how Dr. Bass, and Robert Day, Jr., OD, of Broadway Eye Center in Garland, Texas, are using Eyefinity EHR in their practices to facilitate the transition to ICD-10.

An EHR Makes the Transition Easier

Because ICD-10 has nearly five times as many codes, there is not a one-to-one matching for ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes. General Equivalency Mappings (GEMs), look-up tools and manually searching for codes, could lead to the use of incorrect codes. Every time a claim is rejected and sent back to the office, a staff member must figure out the error, re-code and resubmit, which takes up staff time. This can lead to the delay of reimbursements and overall cash flow to the office.

An EHR solution with built-in auto-coding will ensure that the doctor has the appropriate documentation to support the ICD-10 code. Plus, auto-coding will save them time by automatically generating the appropriate code based on the exam documentation. This is a significant driver of efficiency for a front office and billing team. They are assured every time their doctor has coded the correct diagnosis every time.

What Is Eyefinity Doing Differently?

Eyefinity is different from competing systems in that we use true, built-in auto-coding. Many other EHRs use GEMs or look-up tools, to map ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes. Eyefinity does not use GEMs, or translation tools. These tools could add minutes to each patient visit and produce inaccurate codes that could cost doctors reimbursements.

With Eyefinity EHR and ExamWRITER, ICD-10 coding is automated. We worked with a team of doctors to develop and test the auto-coding functionality that generates the appropriate code based on the doctor’s exam notes. Just tap, touch or click, and you’re done. It’s that simple.

System Implementation Options

Eyefinity offers both cloud-based and on-premises practice management and EHR solutions, which provides ECPs with choice. All Eyefinity solutions are ICD-10-ready.

• Practices using our cloud platform (Eyefinity Practice Management and Eyefinity EHR) are already ICD-10 compliant. With a cloud solution, updates are done for you automatically, and you are always on the most current version. Beginning on October 1, our cloud platform will begin using ICD-10 codes without any extra set up or configuration.

• Practices using our on-premises solutions (OfficeMate and ExamWRITER) need to download the OfficeMate 12 in order to be ICD-10 compliant.

• Practices using a OfficeMate and Eyefinity EHR must update to OfficeMate 12 to be ICD-10 compliant. Eyefinity EHR has been automatically updated for them.

Technical Support Standing By

The Eyefinity ICD-10 Resource Center provides ECPs with tips, FAQs, product-specific information, webinars and links to other industry resources. The webinar series is available on-demand, allowing practices to see ICD-10 in action in their practice management/EHR solutions.

In addition, we’ve created training sites for each of our solutions that allow doctors and office staff to practice ICD-10 in their Eyefinity solution before October 1. We recommend that offices only practice in the testing site to eliminate the risk of disrupting office flow and financial reporting.

Although ICD-10 is a monumental change for the entire healthcare industry. Eyefinity is committed to making this a smooth transition for our customers through the use of innovative technology in our solutions and industry expertise by our employees.

Candice Davis is Vice-President, Professional Services, for Eyefinity. For more information, visit www.eyefinity.com.

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