Salt Lake City - 3M Health Information Systems is enriching its web-based ICD-10 Education Program with 18 new physician education modules that address the critical issue of physician readiness for ICD-10. Designed by 3M consulting experts, including physicians, nurses, and credentialed health information management professionals, the new modules will provide comprehensive ICD-10 training based on medical specialty, allowing physicians to focus on the education most relevant to their work. Training is delivered over the Web so that it can be easily accessed and reviewed as frequently as needed.

The 3M physician education modules enhance 3M's content-rich ICD-10 curriculum currently used to train more than 3,700 healthcare professionals at hospitals, health systems, physician practices, and government facilities. Available as a web-based subscription service, the education program allows for broad access across healthcare organizations and offers 22 complete modules of training content with special emphasis on in-depth ICD-10 education for inpatient, outpatient and professional fee coders and documentation improvement specialists.

3M recently surveyed nearly 500 hospital clients about ICD-10 implementation in a live "town hall" meeting on September 5, 2012. "More than 72 percent of those surveyed told us physician education and clinical documentation are the biggest gaps in their ICD-10 transition," said Terri McCubbin, RN, Director, Consulting Services, for 3M Health Information Systems. "The importance of physician readiness can't be overstated. Coding, reimbursement, and quality reporting under ICD-10 all depend on the accuracy of physician documentation. Hospitals should begin physician education now to build competency well in advance of ICD-10 implementation."
The 3M ICD-10 Education Program leverages nearly 30 years of 3M coding experience and knowledge gained from more than 1,500 3M clinical documentation improvement consulting engagements. Rather than a "one-size-fits-all" approach, training is delivered in the specific context needed for different job functions and matches trainees to the appropriate education track. The program offers self-testing tools and advanced reporting features so ICD-10 steering committees and transition leaders can measure staff progress over time.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a Final Rule extending the ICD-10 implementation date by one year to October 1, 2014. Given the time needed to sufficiently train staff, healthcare organizations can take advantage of the one-year extension and use the 3M ICD-10 Education Program to pace training in a way that minimizes the impact on productivity while helping coders and documentation specialists master the new coding system. ICD-10 codes will replace ICD-9-CM codes, which are used throughout health care to record, store and retrieve diagnosis and procedure information for clinical, epidemiological and quality purposes, and for reimbursement.

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