vRad Shares Success from Complex ICD-10 Transition of 2,100+ Client Healthcare Facilities
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — (March 7, 2016) vRad (Virtual Radiologic), an affiliate of MEDNAX, Inc. (NYSE: MD) and the leading national teleradiology services and telemedicine company, today announced that it will showcase insights and best practices learned from a successful ICD-10 transition of 2,100+ client facilities during a live webinar on March 9, 2016 at 12:00 pm CT. Click here to register for “ICD-10: An Informed and Intelligent Transition.” Along with the webinar, vRad will make available a new white paper “ICD-10: An Informed and Intelligent Transition,” which discusses vRad’s three-step plan that created an automated, scalable, and replicable solution that improved patient care while avoiding the “catastrophic repercussions on cash flow” that was predicted by many industry experts—and which is being felt by many radiology practices, according to a December 2015 survey conducted by the Radiology Business Management Association.
vRad’s successful transition to ICD-10 maximized patient care by getting better diagnostic information to its physicians that includes more detailed and relevant reasons for exam. It also has helped to maximize reimbursements, decrease image reporting addenda by 19 percent, and maintain an average number of days to collect payments with no change in vRad’s accounts receivables. It also maintained a similar rate of denied claims due to medical necessity prior to the ICD-10 implementation.
“ICD-10-CM requires a more complete clinical history prior to—in radiology’s case—the images being interpreted by the radiologist,” said Edes Hill, Manager of Imaging Services at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada. “vRad worked with us to implement a best-practice ‘reason for exam’ workflow that allows us to capture better data at the point of ordering the imaging study. As a result, we are obtaining more complete patient data, which has reduced our potential rejection rate for non-specified ICD-10 codes from 64 percent to 8 percent since we implemented the program.”
An important component of vRad’s ICD-10 transition with clients involved the integration of an automated “Intelligent Branching” solution into its preexisting study order workflow for the majority of its clients. Technologists and/or referring physicians can optimize clinical and financial outcomes simply by answering a dynamic checklist using information that are readily available and relevant to making the exam order decision.
“The ICD-10 stakes are high for physicians, practices, hospitals, and health systems alike,” said Benjamin W. Strong, MD (ABR, ABIM), Chief Medical Officer of vRad. “Providing this additional patient information to our physicians better equips them to diagnose accurately and quickly—and provide better service to our clients and better outcomes for the patients we collectively serve. For us, being ICD-10 ready was in the best interest of our clients and their patients. Sharing our best practices and lessons learned helps radiology move forward and embrace another innovation that can improve the practice of radiology.”
Click to tweet: @vRad Shares Insigts frm #ICD-10 Trnsitn of 2K+ HC Facilts. 3/10/16 #Webinar exmin bst pracs. reg > http://bit.ly/1QJ3wWt #radiology
About vRad
vRad (Virtual Radiologic) is the leading national teleradiology services and telemedicine company with over 350 U.S. board-certified and eligible physicians, 75% of whom are subspecialty trained. Its clinical expertise and evidence-based insight help clients make better decisions about the health of their patients and their imaging services. vRad is an affiliate of MEDNAX, Inc., a national medical group specializing in neonatal, anesthesia, maternal-fetal, pediatric cardiology and other pediatric physicians services.
vRad interprets and processes patient imaging studies on the world’s largest and most advanced teleradiology PACS for 2,100+ client hospital, health system and radiology group facilities in all 50 states. The practice has 15 issued patents for innovation in telemedicine workflow, and is a recognized leader in imaging analytics and deep learning-assisted diagnostics. It is also a past winner of Frost & Sullivan’s Visionary Innovation Award for Medical Imaging Analytics (North America). For more information, please visit www.vrad.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.