ICD-10 Education and Training Planning

As you know by now, the official compliance date for ICD-10 is October 1, 2014. To many, this may seem far away, however, now is the time to begin planning for ICD-10 training and education.

Do not underestimate the size and scope of ICD-10 educational needs. While IT will, most likely, be the largest expense for your practice, especially if you need any additional hardware, training and education will be the next biggest expense. Managers must take this into consideration when developing the ICD-10 budget.

Depending on the size of your practice, you may need to establish a committee to assist with planning.

Here are some questions managers need to ask when developing the education plan and proceeding with training:

• Who needs training?
• How much will it cost?
• When will we deliver training?
• Who will provide training?
• Was the training successful?

Creating a training plan
Begin by assessing who will need training and what type of training will be needed. Everyone in your practice will need some type of training; however, the level of training and education needed will vary depending each staff member’s role.

The scope of ICD-10 education is vast. Here are some of the topics to include:
• Implementation overview
• General Equivalence Mapping (GEM)
• EHR meaningful use
• Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI)
• Business process specific training (e.g., ABN form, payer policy changes, etc.)
• General code set overview
• Detailed code set instruction ICD-10-CM
• Anatomy and Pathophysiology

Identifying learning styles
People have different learning styles. Take this into consideration when preparing education and training plans. Here are the three basic types of learning styles:

Visual learners:
• Prefer to watch
• Get a lot out of videos
• Do best in a classroom environment or distance learning

Auditory learners:
• Learn through listening
• May struggle to understand what they have read
• Understand when they hear a class lecture

Kinesthetic learners:
• Learn best by doing
• Enjoy learning by hands-on methods
• Remember what was done, but have difficulty recalling what was seen or said

By considering the learning styles of each employee, you will able to select the right type of training for each person.

Determining training methods
There are also many different training delivery methods. Here are a few that are available:

In person live-session or workshop:
This will typically be a lecture and PowerPoint presentation. The pros are it is a face-to-face communication and the attendee is able to interact with the instructor. The cons are it can be more expensive due to possible travel and will require the employee to take time away from work.

Computer-based (without Web access) distance learning:
This type of training will be self-directed. The pro is the trainee sets the training pace. The cons are it may be less interactive and will not have face-to-face time with an instructor.

Web-based live-session/workshop or on-demand recording:
This training will be done through distance learning with WebEx, a webinar, streaming and/or a chat session. The pros are the user can interact with the instructor, it does not require travel,and the trainee may complete it at their convenience. The con is it may have limited participation due to a dedicated time period and difficulty for the user to focus.

PowerPoint:
This training will be distance learning through the use of a PowerPoint file. The pro is the trainees can save the file to a computer for reference later. The cons are it is not interactive with the presenter/trainer and slides provide less detail and specific information.

Pre-recorded:
This training will be distance learning through the use of video and audio files. The pros are the trainees may watch it at their convenience and can save the file to the computer for reference later. The con is the trainees will not be able to interact with their instructor.

In the next issue we will identify when to deliver training, options for who will provide training, and how to tell if the training was successful.

Jackie Stack, CPC, is an ICD-10 specialist for AAPC and can be reached here.