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Code Chaos Another nightmare for doctors, courtesy of the federal government
The Weekly Standard ^ | 3/7/14 | STEPHEN F. HAYES

Posted on 03/07/2014 8:39:15 PM PST by Impala64ssa

Ever considered suicide by jellyfish? Have you ended up in the hospital after being injured during the forced landing of your spacecraft? Or been hurt when you were sucked into the engine of an airplane or when your horse-drawn carriage collided with a trolley?

Chances are slim.

But should any of these unfortunate injuries befall you after October 1, 2014, your doctor, courtesy of the federal government, will have a code to record it. On that date, the United States is scheduled to implement a new system for recording injuries, medical diagnoses, and inpatient procedures called ICD-10​—​the 10th version of the International Classification of Diseases propagated by the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. So these exotic injuries, codeless for so many years, will henceforth be known, respectively, as T63622A (Toxic effect of contact with other jellyfish, intentional self-harm, initial encounter), V9542XA (Forced landing of spacecraft injuring occupant, initial encounter), V9733XA (Sucked into jet engine, initial encounter), and V80731A (Occupant of animal-drawn vehicle injured in collision with streetcar, initial encounter).

The coming changes are vast. The number of codes will explode​—​from 17,000 under the current system to 155,000 under the new one, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The transition to ICD-10 was planned long before Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. But Obama administration officials say it is a critical part of the coming reforms. “ICD-10 is the foundation for health care reform,” said Jeff Hinson, a CMS regional administrator, in a conference call about ICD-10 for providers in Colorado.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 0care; redtape; stupidregulations
Yep, we had to pass the law before we knew what was in it. Just like a stool sample.
1 posted on 03/07/2014 8:39:15 PM PST by Impala64ssa
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To: Impala64ssa
Toxic effect of contact with other jellyfish

'Other' jellyfish? They must have customized that injury code for John Boehner.

2 posted on 03/07/2014 8:43:54 PM PST by rfp1234 (Impeach We Much!)
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To: Impala64ssa
How would you write up these?

Death by coffin

or this:

or this


3 posted on 03/07/2014 9:01:19 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: Impala64ssa

...but wait, there’s more!

112008UPY0URS: Perforated intestine incurred while playing leapfrog with a unicorn.

AARGH1000: Severe blood loss from repeated paper cuts suffered while handling copies of the Affordable Care Act.

CC666Bsgwejrjk: Compound carpal injury from typing stupid unnecessary regulations.

17T$D3BT: Aggravated snorting of red ink by a Treasury Dept. official.

0ICU812: Choking injury for sword-swallowers and other friends of Barney Frank.

R0TFLMA0: Accidental spillage of a scalding beverage onto one’s genitalia after reading this article.


4 posted on 03/07/2014 9:06:07 PM PST by rfp1234 (Impeach We Much!)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

Death by Coffin....
Interesting.
Do you charge the Pall Bearers?
The person in the Coffin?

Today the lawyers would SUE the family of the deceased, the maker of the coffin, the maker of the handles on the coffin, the Pall Bearers, the groundscrew of the cemetery and am sure they could throw a couple more in there.
Oh yes, was there a warning label on the coffin saying it may decapitate someone if the bearers lost their grip?

Of course it may just be written up as being in the wrong place at the wrong time OR if he was contemplating suicide,
It would be the RIGHT place at the RIGHT time.


5 posted on 03/07/2014 9:08:11 PM PST by xrmusn (6/98 --In CNNs (feeble) mind, EVERYONE that doesnt ask for more Kool-Aid is bullying BO)
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To: Impala64ssa

Suicide by Jellyfish you say? That makes me think Diana Nyad who insisted on swimming a record breaking number of miles in the tropical waters of Florida, teeming with Jellyfish. I have not heard anything from her since she finally broke the old record. Maybe Wheaties will give her a call.


6 posted on 03/07/2014 9:14:23 PM PST by lee martell
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To: rfp1234
My nurse girlfriend and I concocted this very necessary and valuable ICD-10 code that will be extremely important and useful in future billing around Washington D.C. and the Democrat Party conventions in 2014 and 2016...

321.0 SPLAT— Liberal Cerebral Defenestration (LCD) or Liberal Acquired Brain Absence (LABA) due to keeping the mind so far open that the brain falls out.

7 posted on 03/07/2014 10:10:12 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
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To: Impala64ssa

Suicide attempt by other jellyfish huh.

One would almost think some sort of compound code for these things so part of it would mean something like “suicide attempt” and part of it would mean “by whatever.” So we could have suicide attempt by angry bull, suicide attempt by jumping off bridge, suicide attempt by attacking a policeman, etc.


8 posted on 03/07/2014 10:17:31 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Impala64ssa

Real code:

Boynton’s “personal favorite” is code V9027XA: “Drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from burning water-skis, initial encounter.”

How in hell do you set your WATER SKIS on fire????? Who thinks these up? More important: WHO PAYS THEM TO THINK THESE UP???!!!


9 posted on 03/07/2014 10:24:19 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
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To: Swordmaker
How in hell do you set your WATER SKIS on fire????? Who thinks these up? More important: WHO PAYS THEM TO THINK THESE UP???!!!

I've thought about my own questions. . . Please see IDC-10 code 321.0 SPLAT above. The people who think these up AND the people who pay them are coded under that. . .

10 posted on 03/07/2014 10:27:51 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
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To: Swordmaker

Due to a Hollywood stunt man having just that happen.


11 posted on 03/07/2014 10:29:33 PM PST by steve86 (Some things aren't really true but you wouldn't be half surprised if they were.)
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To: Swordmaker

How would you code a collision between your horse-drawn carriage and a Tesla, as opposed to a diesel Mercedes or a gasoline-fueled Buick??? ;)


12 posted on 03/07/2014 11:32:09 PM PST by Frank_2001
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To: Impala64ssa

Ha! Very Good!

As usual, under the guise of “it’s for the chilren”
The REAL reason for this unnecessary complex mess is to cause doctors to throw up their hands & say; “I quit!”
The secondary reason is to give gubmint employees “something to do” (they’re sooo productive, don’t you think?)

Once most doctors quit, the few remaining can be more easily controlled (not to mention how “access” will be obtained by the suffering masses in flyover country - but the ‘little people’ don’t matter anyway).

I can think of very little the gubmint does anymore that I DON’T despise.


13 posted on 03/08/2014 2:38:33 AM PST by spankalib ("I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.")
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To: Swordmaker

I would really like to know how many times someone has had a near drowning because their skis were on fire. No, really, how many times has this happened in this country in the last 100 years?

The real reason for all of this is to limit treatment options. If you just use the code for near drowning, the Dr. won’t be allowed to add burn treatments to it. If you use a burn code, there won’t be allowed drowning treatments.

Code A, treatment B. Code D, treatment F. No variations allowed.

Yeah, that will work well.


14 posted on 03/08/2014 5:45:33 AM PST by Grammy (He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that they cannot carry out their plans. Job 5:12)
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To: rfp1234

or CTRL+FU.......being shot by a team member by mistake.


15 posted on 03/08/2014 5:55:57 AM PST by Yorlik803 ( Church/Caboose in 2016)
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To: Impala64ssa

The point is to increase prosecutions for “fraud”.

Almost every doctor makes a coding mistake once a week. ICD-10 will ensure mistakes once an hour.

Every single doctor, without exception, will be able to be picked up as soon as she steps out of line.


16 posted on 03/08/2014 6:00:07 AM PST by Jim Noble (When strong, avoid them. Attack their weaknesses. Emerge to their surprise.)
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To: Impala64ssa

I chose to look at the other side of the coin. I’m not certain I want to defend the codes but at least develop a better understanding.

Obamacare aside, the medical profession has had some problems coming into the digital age. Some have, some have not. The result is increased costs as efficiencies are dampened by those that have not made the effort to learn to cope with computers.

I suspect that rather than a group of wacko leftist revolutionaries around a conference table dreaming of wild unlikely accidents, the seemingly absurd codes are real, taken from actual ER records. Since there are abundant seemingly unlikely accidents and circumstances there are lots of codes.

I can cite one such seemingly ridiculous family accident treated in the ER.”Laceration by Tuba requiring sutures.” Somehow, my teenage son fell or was pushed, his forehead making contact with the meeting edge of his friends tuba bell that was laying on the ground. The contact produces a nice arc shaped laceration on his forehead. I won’t argue the merits of this accident having a separate code.

The codes produce uniformity within the greater system. We have them in all sorts of systems and conditions. One of the largest is the Harmonized Code of Tariffs where every item exported had a code. That is a widget made in Pakistan has the same code as a widget made in Argentina.

The medical codes are but one attribute of Walmart coming to medicine. The days of the mom and pop shop ended with Walmart. Mom and pop simply could not compete with Walmart economies of scale and distribution.

Obamacare has brought this incongruity in the medical business to the visible forefront. The economies from groups and scale are forcing those that choose to try to get along the old way to be a burden on the overall profession.


17 posted on 03/08/2014 6:15:11 AM PST by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... History is a process, not an event)
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To: Mears

bfl


18 posted on 03/08/2014 6:44:45 AM PST by Mears
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To: lee martell

Apparently, Diana Nyad is going to be one of the “dancers” on this season’s “Dancing With The Stars” on ABC.

They trotted her and the other contestants out on “Good Morning America” last week.


19 posted on 03/08/2014 7:00:29 AM PST by july4thfreedomfoundation (I don't want to feel "safe." I want to feel FREE!)
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