Even though ICD-10 has been a topic of discussion and concern for many hospitals, ICD-11 is already being talked about too. According to the World Health Organization, ICD-11 is scheduled to come out in 2017, less than two years after the start date of ICD-10. Some people such as incoming president of the American Medical Association, Steven Stack, believe that ICD-10 should be skipped altogether, moving straight to ICD-11 implementation. He believes that there are too many technical and complicated problems associated with ICD-10. This includes too many detailed codes, time consumption for physicians, and unrealistic expectations surrounding the 68,000 codes.
Stack has high hopes for ICD-11, hoping it will fix various foreseeable problems of ICD-10. Some reasons why it might be beneficial to move straight to ICD-11 are:
- The costs would be less of going to ICD-11 directly than of first implementing ICD-10 and then moving toward ICD-11.
- There is a consensus among leading informatics experts that ICD-11 is superior to ICD-10, such as providing more clarification for types of diseases (even though there would still be a large number of codes).
- The ICD-10 implementation has been so painful and delayed that it is likely ICD-11 will be delayed in the future too.
- There is currently no information showing that a conversion to a complicated ICD-10 is required before a new ICD.
- ICD-9 has been around for more than 20 years and switching from ICD-10 to ICD-11 so quickly would be an unnecessary transition.
