Are practices more ready for ICD-10 than they realize?

  The WEDI survey, released amid fanfare as the industry hurtles towards the Oct. 1 deadline for the ICD-10 transition, revealed that less than half of physician practices surveyed (350 in total) said they would be ready for the switch. Moreover, only approximately 20 percent of physician practices said they have started or completed external testing, 15 percent have conducted impact assessments, and 40 percent said they’d test only with clearinghouses. According to Jim Daley, Director of IT at BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and Co-Chair of WEDI: “For many physician practices, they probably don’t understand what’s needed to switch over to ICD-10. Many still think they have to know the countless numbers of codes that come with ICD-10, which total approximately 68,000. The truth is they probably don’t have to use a significant percentage of those codes, such as those for hospital inpatient procedures.” One thing physician practices shouldn’t do, Daley said, is bank on another delay. He said that it’s too late; Medicare can’t undo its systems. Bills in Congress intended on delaying the transition once more will not go anywhere, he predicted. Read more on Physicians Practice