AHIMA recommends providers keep working on ICD-10 implementation

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) urged the healthcare community to continue preparing for the transition to the ICD-10 classification system, warning that the U.S. Congress may not act on requests to stop ICD-10 implementation and let stakeholders design and adopt a new classification system to replace ICD-9-CM. 

The American Medical Association (AMA) and other healthcare organizations have launched an effort to block implementation of ICD-10, most recently with AMA CEO James L. Madara, MD, writing to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Jan. 27 imploring him to take action against the implementation of ICD-10. 

“If healthcare providers stop their ICD-10 planning and implementation now and wait to see if Congress will take action, they will not be ready in time for the compliance date,” Dan Rode, AHIMA vice president for advocacy and policy, said in a statement issued on Jan. 30. Currently, physician practices, healthcare delivery systems and payors use the 35-year-old ICD-9-CM classification system, but it has not been able to keep up with medical knowledge and new disease factors; limiting health data that can be used to improve patient care.

“The move to ICD-10-CM/PCS is at the foundation of healthcare information changes underway in the United States,” Rode said. “Without ICD-10 data, there will be serious gaps in our ability to extract important patient health information that will give physicians and the healthcare industry measures for quality of care, provide important public health surveillance, support modern-day research and move to a payment system based on quality and outcomes.”

Stopping implementation would result in a significant financial loss to the healthcare providers, health plans, clearinghouses, technology vendors and the federal government, all who have invested in the transition and have been preparing for the last several years, said Rode.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been modifying the ICD-10-CM code set for more than a decade with input from stakeholders in the healthcare community, including physicians. Physicians are not required to use ICD-10-PCS which reflects the procedures and treatment provided by the practitioner. Instead, physicians will continue to use the American Medical Association’s CPT classification system, lessening the changes doctors must make.

“The concern that physicians must use all the codes in the ICD-10-CM system is inaccurate. Like we use dictionaries to find specific words, practitioners use those codes that best fit their practice,” Rode said.