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With the worries of a major loss of Title X funding across the nation, Family Planning clinics need to be cautious about spending and streamlining all efforts in order to keep costs minimal. Family planning services are provided by a variety of agencies including local health departments, community health centers (CHC), and federally qualified Health Clinics (FQHC).  These agencies all run on very tight budgets so taking measures to enhance revenue for family planning is critical.  They also have the added burden of annual FPAR (Family Planning Annual Reports) requirements. At the same time, they need to be sure that claims are not denied for inaccurate processing, which would cause an interruption of revenue. This all comes on the heels of the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 coding.

To alleviate some of the new burdens of the billing process, the Family Planning National Training Center has published an easy reference ICD-9 to ICD-10 crosswalk for all the most commonly used Family Planning diagnosis codes. This is a resource guide, not a replacement of knowledge, to keep your workflow smooth and without delay of revenue during the learning curves of transition.

The coding tool spreadsheet has three separate tabs covering ICD Diagnosis codes by QFP domain, common diagnosis (dx) or symptoms most often seen in Family Planning facilities, and Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) qualifiers for ICD codes. The tool converts ICD-9 codes to ICD-10 codes, although some of the ICD-9 codes will require secondary codes for specificity as they could translate to multiple ICD-10 codes.

Another valuable resource is your Electronic Health Record software. A worthwhile EHR software should have a built in ICD-9 to ICD-10 crosswalk as well. Also, your EHR can help make it easier for clinicians to evaluate a patient’s details to more accurately determine which ICD-10 code(s) to use. This detail allows for more specificity and accuracy, depending on your patient’s history and records on file. Be sure to get the full picture of your patient before selecting your ICD-10 code. If you have not yet adopted an EHR system, choose one that will aid in this process and help prevent claims denials. By automating the processes, EHRs can also automatically generate the FPAR reports.

Download ICD crosswalk cheat sheets here, or get help from the Family Planning National Training Centers Coding Tool now. ICD-9/10 Crosswalk