ICD-10 Compliance Is Lagging
By
John Pulley
Health IT vendors and health care providers are far from ready to start using a new international medical coding system known as ICD-10, according to a recent survey by the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), a nonprofit industry advisory group.
In a March 15 letter to Lorraine Doo, deputy director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, WEDI said a February survey of 2,600 health care providers, IT vendors and health plans indicates that "the industry is falling behind" in the ICD-10 implementation timeline.
The WEDI survey found that:
- Roughly half of the vendors aren't even halfway through the product development process.
- More than a third of health plans have completed an ICD-10 assessment, but a quarter of them are less than halfway through the assessment.
- Nearly half of providers said they didn't know when they would complete an impact assessment, and half said they didn't know when they would begin testing.
In February, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced her intent to postpone the date for mandatory ICD-10 compliance beyond Oct. 1, 2013. A new compliance date has not been set.
"We have heard from many in the provider community who have concerns about the administrative burdens they face in the years ahead," Sebelius said in the Feb. 16 statement. "We are committing to work with the provider community to reexamine the pace at which HHS and the nation implement these important improvements to our health care system."