The past two years have been difficult for many reasons while we continue to deal with a public health emergency. As you may know, AHCC works with the BMSC Exam Committees to make updates to the Home Care Coding Specialist – Diagnosis (HCS-D) and Home Care Coding Specialist – Hospice (HCS-H) exams to bring them in line with the annual ICD-10 updates. This year, we’ve made the decision to provide candidates some extra time before we transition to exams based on the FY2022 code set.
We will continue to offer the existing exams, based on the FY2021 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Codes and Coding Guidelines through the end of the year. We hope this additional time to prepare and sit for these exams using the codes you are already familiar with will be helpful.
What this means for BMSC candidates: You may register and sit for the current exams using the FY2021 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code and Coding Guidelines through the end of 2021. We recommend bringing your FY2021 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Coding Manual and the FY2021 ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting (found here: https://ahcc.decisionhealth.com/media/1373/icd-10-cm-guidelines-ahcc-2021.pdf) with you when you sit for the HCS-D or HCS-H exam.
While these exams are based on the FY2021 ICD-10 code set, FY2022 ICD-10 coding manuals are an allowed resource. If you opt to use a FY2022 ICD-10 coding manual, make sure to familiarize yourself with the codes that have been added, deleted, or changed in the FY2022 code set update.
Aside from a coding manual, the FY2021 Coding Guidelines (found here) are the only other allowed resource for these exams.
Please reach out to us at AHCCMembers@decisionhealth.com with any questions.