While attending the 83rd Annual AHIMA Convention & Exhibit in Salt Lake City in October, I began reminiscing about the HIM profession. Two things quickly came to mind: Wow, we have really come a long way in 83 years, and wow, I have been doing this for a long time.
Almost the entire convention was focused on ICD-10. Not to date myself (assume I was a child prodigy), but the chaos from the ICD-8 transition to ICD-9 was not as traumatic in 1979 as will be our move to ICD-10. Back then, reimbursement based on prospective payments and diagnosis-related groups were not in place nationally. Coding was conducted for statistical purposes and was not the foundation for revenue.
Despite this major difference, I believe the RHIAsof today can learn a few important lessons from the registered record administrators of yesterday. This article takes a look back and, in doing so, provides practical ideas to help coders take the leap forward.