The neverending policy issue
The big health IT news this week is the likelihood that National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, is likely moving on now that she’s been nominated as assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
However, ICD-10 continues to grab some headlines. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.) introduced the Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2015 which aims to prevent HHS from ever replacing ICD-9 with ICD-10.
Citing the “burdensome bureaucratic system” and the potential for high costs, Poe said “the new ICD-10 codes will not make one patient healthier.”
Also this week another ICD-10 readiness survey was released, finding that just 11 percent of respondents are "highly confident" their employees will be adequately trained and 13 percent are "highly confident" their business will be prepared.
The results are from NueMD's third "Attitudes Towards ICD-10" survey (full results here) which generated 1,000 responses from healthcare professionals across all 50 states.
Thirty-five percent said they are "not at all confident" their employees will be adequately trained and 31 percent said they are "not at all confident" their business will be prepared.
Will there come a time when this issue is settled once and for all?
Beth Walsh
Clinical Innovation + Technology editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.