AHIMA: Healthcare industry is ready for ICD-10

Despite complaints from the American Medical Association and a few other provider organizations, healthcare organizations are in fact ready to switch to ICD-10 coding by Oct. 1, an official from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) testified before Congress.

“The healthcare industry is well-prepared to meet the October 2015 compliance date,” Sue Bowman, MJ, AHIMA’s senior director of coding policy and compliance said Feb. 11 at a hearing on ICD-10 implementation before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on health. “We need it, and we’re ready.”

Bowman dismissed criticism that small providers in particular face “exorbitant” implementation costs by citing a November 2012 article in the Journal of AHIMA, as well as Department of Health and Human Servicdes data. The federal agency has said that delaying ICD-10 by another year will increase costs by 10 percent to 30 percent.

She also addressed concern about the sheer number of codes available in ICD-10, about five times more than the current ICD-9 codeset. “The expanded specific clinical detail will make it easier, not harder, to find the right code,” Bowman said.

“The expanded clinical detail in ICD-10 was requested by the medical community because these clinical distinctions are important to capture,” Bowman continued. “Ninety-five percent of the requests for new ICD-10 codes have come from physician organizations. Increased specificity, clinical accuracy and a logical structure facilitate rather than complicate the use of a codeset.”