Providers on journey to ICD-10 implementation

Compared to last year, providers are reporting greater progress in their preparedness for ICD-10 conversion, according to speakers at a Feb. 27 KLAS Enterprises webinar.

Many providers have moved beyond the roadmap development stage and shifted their energies to workforce training and preparedness, according to the industry research findings presented.

“The transition is happening,” said KLAS Senior Research Manager Graham Triggs. “ICD-10 and Meaningful Use are the carrots and a stick that are motivating a lot of people right now.”

Approximately two-thirds of providers identified themselves in the early stages of implementation, while 28 percent said they are just getting started, Loiz Krotz, strategic operations director at KLAS Enterprises, reported. Readiness varied depending on size and type of organization, with providers with more than 500 beds viewing themselves as halfway there and smaller, community-size hospitals reporting 25-30 percent readiness.

With the ICD-10 implementation deadline on the horizon, providers expressed less concern about technology readiness but amplified attention on physician training and readiness, Krotz said. As such, more providers have hired or will bring on board vendors to train staff.  

“The biggest surprise for us is the big decrease in providers’ concerns over technology readiness,” Krotz said of her research. “The conflicting sentiment that we received from providers is that while they’re confident in the technology preparedness, they are still very, very interested in technology. They want to invest in technology to better prepare them for the transition.”

Of those surveyed, 41 percent said they have set up boards and steering committees devoted to the transition, 35 percent enacted some physician and staff training. Moreover, the research found that 75 percent of providers plan to adopt computer-assisted coding (CAC), 38 percent are looking to clinical documentation improvement, and 25 percent are adopting ICD-10 mapping.

“Adoption of CAC is not easy as it’s a transformation of workflow, but they still feel it’s worth the trouble,” Krotz said.

Erik Westerlind, senior director of financial & services research, pointed out that CAC got its genesis in an ambulatory setting, thus those in acute care will encounter the greater challenges adopting CAC.

Approximately two-thirds of providers do coding in-house, but Triggs expected that to change as a wave of coders hit retirement age.

“It’s going to force some people’s hand, because they are not going to want to relearn their trade,” commented Triggs. Instead of replacing them, he predicts more providers turning to outside vendors for coding needs.

In the area of health information management (HIM) services, the main challenges reported include technology (EMR platform), compliance with ICD-10 and Meaningful Use regulations, staffing, transcription and staff education and updated medical records.

HIM services, the KLAS speakers said, is looking to make major gains in CAC, and is focusing energies on EMR development, speech recognition and scanning.

In other findings, the KLAS researchers said 41 percent of executives are very aware of the financial impact of ICD-10.

“It has opened the eyes of executives,” said Triggs.

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