North Shore-LIJ Health System has launched HealthForce, a new business unit that will offer coding services to other healthcare organizations nationwide.
[See also: ICD-10 delay has hurt readiness]
The 6,000-bed, 9,400-physician, 48,000-employee health system is one of the largest in the U.S. It aims to bring its clinical and financial expertise to other, smaller providers – especially with regard to ICD-10, whose compliance deadline is one year from tomorrow.
"With its vast expertise in medical coding, North Shore-LIJ brings enormous value in helping healthcare organizations understand the financial implications of this transition to ICD-10," said Frank Danza, North Shore-LIJ’s senior vice president and chief revenue officer, in a press statement announcing HealthForce.
[See also: North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System building system-wide EMR]
"We are unique in the coding outsourcing business because we don't require clients to outsource their entire revenue cycle," said Danza. "Unlike others, we are not a staff augmentation company. We apply the same accuracy and quality oversight for our clients as we do for our own coding operations, delivering dedicated support from individual coders with the expertise to meet the specific needs of our customers."
By Oct. 1, 2015, the Affordable Care Act will require that all healthcare systems in the U.S. begin using the ICD-10 set their medical reporting and payment processes. With huge implications for how services are documented and billed – and how providers are reimbursed – failure adopt ICD-10 will have significant financial consequences for health systems.
HealthForce, with a staff of100 experienced coders, "is committed to quality and compliance," said Cyndi Thomas, HealthForce's vice president of business development, in a statement.
"Our medical records coders have all gone through quality checks," said Thomas. "They are trained, supervised and mentored under the same strict standards operating at North Shore-LIJ. Our coders have a proven track record of success in seeing projects through from start to finish."
