Healthcare organizations showed varying levels of readiness for the October 2015 ICD-10 compliance deadline, with smaller organizations like physician practices appearing less prepared and more concerned about the switch, according to a recent survey assessing organizations' readiness for testing and implementation.
More respondents from clinics and practices indicated it will be harder to complete common clinical and administrative processes under ICD-10 than respondents from acute-care hospitals: 61 percent of clinics and physician practices believe documenting patient encounters will be more difficult, as compared to 35 percent of acute-care hospitals.
The survey was conducted by the American Health Information Management Association and eHealth Initiative among 454 individuals representing a wide range of healthcare settings, including delivery systems, acute-care hospitals, clinics and physician practices.
Findings from the survey are shown below.
- Sixty-five percent of respondents indicated they could begin end-to-end testing prior to the fourth quarter of 2015, when compliance is set to begin.
- Among these respondents, 63 percent will be ready to conduct testing in 2014.
- Ten percent of all respondents currently have no plans to conduct end-to-end testing, and 17 percent don't know when their organization will be ready for testing.
- The most cited reason for not having plans to conduct end-to-end testing among survey respondents is a lack of knowledge (36 percent), and 45 percent of these organizations are clinics or physician practices.
- Survey respondents expressed concerns about the impact of ICD-10 on clinical and administrative processes. Fifty-nine percent indicated that coding would be more difficult under ICD-10, while 42 percent indicated documenting patient encounters and 41 percent indicated adjudicating claims would be more difficult under ICD-10.
- Fifty-four percent of practices think adjudicating reimbursement claims under ICD-10 will be harder, while 40 percent of acute care hospitals think this.
- However, some respondents reported supported for the long-term benefits of ICD-10. Forty-one percent believe it will improve the accuracy of claims, quality of care (29 percent) and patient safety (27 percent).