Training Solutions with ICD-10 Implementation in Mind

The U.S. health care industry is preparing for a massive change: ICD-10 implementation. Years in the making – and already implemented across the pond and up north – this new set of health care codes for recording and reporting patient conditions will become the sector norm on October 1, 2015. However, many health care providers are afraid of this impending change, assuming that switching standards and adding new codes will introduce a plethora of problems.

There is a solution to quell ICD-10 fears. It’s all about training. In fact, HIT Consultant recommended that Americans learn from their northern neighbors, as Canadian health care providers failed to place importance on coder training and the negative effects of that were quite clear. After all, ICD-10 will introduce approximately 68,000 extra codes – according to EHR Intelligence – and this means that health care professionals need to learn a substantial amount of information in only three short months.

Of course, organizations have already begun the ICD-10 implementation journey, and they’ve likely heard this a million times by now, but training should still be top of mind for many health care providers. Patients’ lives depend on it.

Here’s where managed print services come in. Organizations need print materials, and having these on-demand will do wonders for training and budgets. Health care providers will need to get creative, however, as some staff members are still upset about the transition to ICD-10.

So, here are some interesting ways to instill ICD-10 in health care professionals’ minds.

Posters, presentations and in-person training

Getting some face-to-face time with employees is critical before ICD-10 becomes the norm in October, but trainers need to work fast, as those staff members have hundreds of other matters to attend to.

Using colorful and creative posters during training sessions can help keep the attention of attendees. Consider ordering a few different posters, as after training, organizations can hang them around the office or hospital to keep staff members aware of the impending change.

Brochures

A one-hour training session can only accomplish so much, so health care providers need a good way to enforce the ICD-10 mindset. ICD-10 Monitor suggested handing out cheat sheets that physicians can always look at when in need.

Brochures are an excellent medium for tip sheets, as organizations can print them to display ICD-9 and those codes’ counterparts in ICD-10. Then, health care professionals can fold these brochures in the opposite direction, using the printed material to quiz themselves.

Create digital content

Hospitals & Health Networks magazine provided a few training tips, with one specifically standing out from the others. The source recommended developing materials that health care professionals can access on demand, allowing the training materials to be specialty specific as well as accessible at all times. Managed print services with digital content creation and file sharing solutions are ideal in this regard, as the cloud can play host to a variety of different training documents. Mimeo is a perfect solution for this need, as it offers both digital content storage and print options.

Flyers for reminders

Once the ICD-10 deadline gets closer, there will be two camps: those that are extremely nervous about the transition and others that won’t even remember the implementation date. For the latter group, health care providers can hang flyers around offices and hospitals, ensuring that everyone remains aware of the correct day that ICD-10 becomes mandatory.

As a note, these should be friendly reminders, so feel free to add colors, humor or anything else that’ll stick in employees’ minds.

Manuals and the years to come

When October 1 comes and passes, ICD-10 will still remain a popular topic of conversation among health care professionals, as these new codes become the standard. Even if training is perfected, cheat sheets do the trick and flyers help individuals recall the deadline, staff members still need an easy way to reference ICD-10 and ICD-9. Manuals can help, acting as a resource for health care professionals for years as these compendiums live in offices, on bookshelves and in desks.

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Kindred Healthcare uses Mimeo to train and support more than half of their 75,000 employees. Find out how they keep their employees happy with relevent and helpful training content.