Before diving into the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Survey on how physicians feel about the implementation of ICD-10, let’s get a little bit of a background.
ICD-10 is the follow up to; you guessed it, ICD-9. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is run by the World Health Organization and sponsored by the United Nations. The WHO defines it as, “the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. This includes the analysis of the general health situation of population groups.” The transition to ICD-10 is required for everyone covered by HIPPA.
The ICD began as the “International Classification of Causes of Death” in 1900. It became the International Classification of Diseases in 1949 when it split into two separate editions. It should also be noted that mental disorders were included in this revision. Jump through ICD revisions 1-9 and you land on ICD revision 10.
This brings us back to the MGMA survey conducted by the Legislative and Executive Advocacy Response Network (LEARN) in June 2013. Responses to 40 questions were received from 1,200 practices.
Survey questions pertain to the implementation of ICD-10. Responses ranged from ‘much less difficult, somewhat less difficult, no change, somewhat more difficult, much more difficult.’
The following are some sample question, the most common response and it’s percentage of the overall field surveyed.
~ Ability to document the patient encounter: Much more difficult with 51.5%
~ Ability of the clinician to select appropriate diagnosis code: Much more difficult with 74.9%
~ Ability to compare new diagnosis data in ICD-10 with previously collected diagnosis data using ICD-9: Much more difficult with 55.3%
~Ability to contract with health plans: No change with 38.7%
It is apparent that ICD-10 is not getting rave reviews. We’ll finish up with a few more questions.
The possible answers are ‘not at all concerned, of little concern, moderately concerned, concerned, very concerned.’
~ Overall cost of converting to ICD-10: Very concerned with 55.6%
~ Loss of clinician productivity after implementation: Very concerned with 70.1%
~ Loss of productivity of coding staff after implementation: Very concerned with 67.3%
Because of the immense amount of backlash “The American Medical Association has reportedly called on the feds to delay for another year the scheduled Oct 1, 2014 compliance deadline for ICD-10,” stated in a March issue of Modern Healthcare.
With many aspects and revenue lost to the implementation of ICD-10, physicians are looking for more efficient ways to manage their practice.
Enter Expeditor Systems.
Every solution we create has been 100% customized to fit your needs. We do not use a one size fits all approach like ICD-10.
Contact us today to learn how we tailor ourselves to your issues.
