How is the Cheat Sheet for ICD-9 Used?
1. Many users of the Cheat Sheet are the people who do the coding. They use it instead of other references because it saves them so much time and most of them have other duties besides coding. We have had surveys returned that say the user cut coding time by 75%! A lot of them! That surprised even us. Cutting time to code by 40-50% is common. That can be a lot of time freed up for other things! Coders use the cheat sheet also because it eliminates a common error. In other coding books there are codes that must have a 4th or 5th digit attached. When you are in a hurry it is sometimes easy to leave off a digit. Then the carrier sends it back for correction. In the Cheat Sheet each diagnosis and procedure is literally precoded. When you look one up, the code you find is complete, up-to-date and accurate. Nothing more is needed so you can’t leave off a digit. 2. In some home health agencies the clinicians in the field do the coding (nurses, PT’s, MSW’s, etc). This speeds the process if a s
