Creating a more successful practice with ICD-10

Implementing chiropractic EHR and ICD-10 can help facilitate a successful expansion for healthcare practices.

Implementing chiropractic EHR and ICD-10 can help facilitate a successful expansion for healthcare practices.

While most of the buzz around ICD-10 has been around what it can do for the patient — creating more accurate diagnoses, reducing associated costs and improving overall care — this shouldn't gloss over the range of benefits that the new coding system can have for the clinics themselves. The wider accessibility and chiropractic EHR compliance offered by ICD-10 is not only key to creating more stabilized inter-office workflows, but can also help set the groundwork for a successful practice as it grows and expands.

EHR Intelligence recently spoke with Cornelius Cathcart, MD, owner and president of North Carolina Pediatric Associates. Like many other physicians across the country, Cathcart recently implemented ICD-10 into his clinics ahead of next year's deadline. Not only have the new codes proven useful in treating patients, they've also helped facilitate the successful expansion of his practice.

"For me and my practice, I started out with one location and as the practice grew and we added locations it became advantageous to have electronic medical records," Cathcart tells the source. "[ICD-10 allows] you when you have multiple locations to have your providers available to your patients regardless of where they are. They are able to pull up records from one location or another. We all know people tend to fall in love with a provider or two."

Cathcart also stresses the importance of adopting both ICD-10 and Meaningful Use Stage 2, and the necessity in having chiropractic EHR software compatible with different medical records, patient portals and diagnostic codes. As Cathcart notes, meaningful use provides "a stepping stone to continued patient safety and improved care coordination," ensuring that patients are yielding just as many benefits out of a clinic with up-to-date medical records as the physicians are.

Investing in the best chiropractic EHR software as soon as possible can help facilitate any practice's transition into a more patient-friendly destination. 

Leave a Reply