IMO® Problem (IT) FAQ
- What is IMO® Problem (IT)?
- What solutions does IMO®Problem (IT) present?
- How will this change and/or impact the clinician's workflow?
- How will this change and/or impact billing?
- What will happen to all our existing data in our medical records?
- How will I make sure that our medical center's "common language" is present in IMO® Problem (IT)?
- Won't the clinicians be upset when the drop-down problem lists change?
- What if a clinician can't find a diagnosis based on his/her favorite terms?
- What happens if a diagnosis appears in a medical record, but the ICD-9 code for that diagnosis is replaced?
- What will happen to system "rules" based on diagnoses?
- How often is IMO® Problem (IT) updated?
- What will happen when ICD-10 is mandated?
1. What is IMO® Problem (IT)?
IMO® Problem (IT) is a comprehensive dictionary of (physician friendly) clinical terms each mapped to its preferred ICD-9-CM (or ICD-10) for use within the EMR. IMO® Problem (IT) helps to capture the clinician's intent for such important responsibilities as creating patient problem lists, improving charge capture and coding accuracy. With IMO® Problem (IT) in place within the EMR, Physicians no longer can select diagnoses linked to out of date, incorrect or non billable ICD-9-CM codes. Coding and Compliance Management find comfort in the fact that the mappings between IMO® clinical terms and their preferred ICD-9-CM codes are reviewed and analyzed by AHIMA - their own professional coding society.
2. What solutions does Problem (IT) present?
IMO® Problem (IT) helps to:
- More effectively capture the clinical intent of the physician
- Improve the search for diagnoses within the EMR: with IMO®, physicians are able to find problems they are looking for.
- Make physician documentation more clinically meaningful
- Create better, more complete problem lists
- Improve coding accuracy and reliability
- Increase physician satisfaction with the EMR
- Reduce the amount of local customization and maintenance required
- Ease transition to ICD-10-CM, when this new code set is mandated.
3. How will this change and/or impact the clinician's workflow?
When IMO® Problem (IT) is in place within the EMR, physicians find a number of beneficial impacts to their clinical workflow:
- Improve the search for diagnoses within the EMR: with IMO®, physicians are able to find problems they are looking for.
- Make physician documentation more clinically meaningful
- Create better, more complete problem lists
- Improve coding accuracy and reliability
4. How will this change and/or impact billing?
With IMO® Problem (IT) in place within the EMR, Physicians no longer can select diagnoses linked to out of date, incorrect or non billable ICD-9-CM codes. This helps reduce the amount of running back and forth between billing and clinicians to determine clinical intent and adjudicate coding discrepancies. Coding and Compliance Management find comfort in the fact that the mappings between IMO® clinical terms and their preferred ICD-9-CM codes are reviewed and analyzed by AHIMA - their own professional society.
5. What will happen to all our existing data in our medical records?
With IMO® Problem (IT) there will be no impact on existing client data as they are currently using SNOMED® CT, ICD-9 or entering diagnoses via free text. IMO® recommends that a customer's legacy free text, with clinical significance, be retained and coded to IMO® Problem (IT), through a simple IMO® migration process.
6. How will I make sure that our medical center's "common language" is present in IMO® Problem (IT)?
IMO® recommends that a customer's unique clinical terms be retained and coded to IMO® Problem (IT), through a simple IMO® migration process.
7. Won't the clinicians be upset when the drop-down problem lists change?
Because both CMT and IMO® Problem (IT) are ICD-9 based and Problem supports SNOMED® CT, the terminology change will be invisible to system users. If anything, users may note that the lists are more intuitive and clinically relevant.
8. What if a clinician can't find a diagnosis based on his/her favorite terms?
Given the large number of healthcare organizations who have already deployed IMO® and contributed their unique terms to the IMO® data set - most every favorite term that can be thought of is already contained within IMO®. Those we do not have would be captured and added to the IMO® data set during our migration process for new customers. Adding new clinical terms and their preferred ICD-9-CM codes (such as: Swine Flu 487.1) quickly is a major benefit of employing IMO®.
We have created an IMO® Vocabulary Maintenance Website so that IMO® customers can communicate directly with the IMO® Knowledge Team to request new terms be added, or to have a conversation about code mapping, etc. With our 10 updates per year, new clinical terms and their coding can be added approximately within a month's time. The IMO® Vocabulary Maintenance Website provides an audit trail for this activity that's accessible to IMO® customers.
9. What happens if a diagnosis appears in a medical record, but the ICD-9 code for that diagnosis is replaced?
The IMO® clinical term will remain active and be available for the physician to chose. The term's mapping will change to the new and now correct ICD-9 code. The historical tags between the term and its prior ICD-9 code will stay in tact for historical purposes, but these connections become clinically inactive so that the old ICD-9-CM code can no longer be selected.
10. What will happen to system "rules" based on diagnoses?
Currently each IMO® interface term maps to a billable ICD-9 code and SNOMED® CT concept, so rules which are based on ICD-9 codes and/or SNOMED® CT concepts should remain unchanged.
11. How often is IMO® Problem (IT) updated?
IMO® Problem (IT) offers customers 10 updates per year, including the two (Spring and Fall) regulatory updates of ICD-9-CM. Updates (over-write or) are cumulative, so an update installed after a gap will bring the system up to the current version.
12. What will happen when ICD-10 is mandated?
IMO® clinical search terms will remain the same. Their mappings from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM will change behind the scenes, when the new code set is mandated. IMO® with ICD-10-CM mappings will be available to customers well in advance of the mandated deadline.