PJC To Help Medical Coders Meet New Federal Requirement

Published or Revised July 23, 2013

In the coming year, Paris Junior College will offer training to meet a new requirement from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Those handling medical records coding and billing will need to learn new code sets for reporting health care diagnoses and procedures. Effective Oct. 1, 2014, HHS requires replacement of the ICD-9-CM code sets with ICD-10 code sets. This change will affect diagnostic code reporting across all health care for inpatient procedural reporting for hospitals and payers. The change is considered to be the most challenging transition since the inception of coding. To help meet the need, PJC Medical Records Coding Instructor Ron Vrba was recently certified to provide the advanced training. PJC’s Continuing Education Department is offering an overview session from 8 a.m. to noon on Friday, August 2. “We will provide further training in different medical specialties beginning next summer,” said PJC continuing education director Rita Pringle. “This session acquaints coders with the scope of what they will need to learn.” The informative class will compare the code structure, specificity of codes and changes in coding guidelines between ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM. An overview of ICD-10-CM through coding exercises and case studies will be provided, as well as insights into how the changes will affect the medical profession. Wednesday, July 31 is the class registration deadline. For more information, call the PJC Continuing Education Department at 903-782-0447.