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ICD-10 PROVIDER READINESS


ICD-10 PROVIDER READINESS

Date Posted: Sunday, May 03, 2015

 

The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) is a nonprofit organization focused on the use of health IT (Information Technology) to improve healthcare information exchange; enhancing quality of care, improving efficiency and reducing costs.

According to their March 3, 2015 letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) WEDI reported concerns that many remain unready for the ICD-10 implementation in October. They stated that in their February 2015 ICD-10 readiness Survey that the primary obstacle to compliance was the uncertainty around further delays in the implementation date.

They went on to state that:

  • Only three-fifths of vendors stated that their vendor products were available or they had started customer testing.
  • Over half of health plans have begun external testing and of these, only a few have completed testing.
  • Just over one-third of providers responded that they had completed their impact assessment.
  • Further analysis shows that over three-fifths of hospitals/health systems have completed assessments.
  • Just one quarter of provider respondents had begun external testing and only a few others had completed this step. Over one-quarter responded that they do not expect to begin external testing until the second or third quarter of 2015 and, disconcertedly, over one-third responded 'unknown.'
  • Further analysis shows that just over one-half of hospitals/health systems had started external testing and a few reports having completed this testing.

According to WEDI:
"Based on the survey results, it appears the delay has had a negative impact on some readiness activities. Uncertainty over further delays was listed as a top obstacle across all industry segments. Some tasks have slipped into 2015,  particularly those related to testing.

It appears clear that while the delay provided more time for the transition to ICD-10, many organizations did not take full advantage of this additional time.

We assert that unless all industry segments make a dedicated and aggressive effort to move forward with their implementation efforts in the next few months, there will be significant disruption to industry claims processing on Oct 1, 2015. Regardless, we encourage all organizations to establish plans for addressing any unforeseen events that may occur during the transition."

To read the full comment letter and survey results go to WEDI website at: http://www.wedi.org/docs/resources/full-comment-letterand-survey-results.pdf?sfvrsn=0

Source: e-medbill.com


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