The deadline for healthcare providers to switch to ICD-10 protocol is next October, and many are still behind the curve in the transition.
A new survey from the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange found only half of hospitals, health systems and physician practices have completed an ICD-10 impact assessment, which generally details how people, processes and technology will be affected by the switch. A quarter of providers said they do not plan to complete their assessment until sometime next year.
Further, only a little more than 10 percent of providers said they will complete or expect to complete all ICD-10 business changes at their organizations by the end of this year. Twenty percent said business changes probably will not happen until the third quarter of 2014 — the quarter before ICD-10 goes live.
Here are other key findings from WEDI's survey:
• A little less than 50 percent of providers expect to start internal testing in the first half of 2014.
• Less than a quarter of providers plan to conduct external testing with health plans and trading partners.
• The biggest obstacles associated with the ICD-10 transition for providers were staffing, competing priorities, vendor readiness and IT.
• More than half of providers plan to produce ICD-10 codes directly in claims, a big shift from February when crosswalking from ICD-9 to ICD-10 appeared to be the more commonplace strategy.
More Articles on ICD-10:
10 Challenges and Opportunities for Hospitals in 2014
3 Revenue Cycle Improvement Lessons From Methodist Health System
4 Steps Swedish Medical Center is Taking to Prep for ICD-10