Successful ICD-10 Testing

In our previous posts we touched on issues surrounding ICD-10 testing and implementation in the year 2014. Coders must be highly trained so that hospitals’ revenue systems are still intact and coding errors are decreased. In this post we will focus on the transition of ICD-10 for this year. ICD-10 will be the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems. According to the World Health Organization, the ICD is constantly being revised and there is still speculation surrounding it.

ICD-10 has been a concern for many different health practices; some would prefer to skip it completely and move straight to ICD-11, which is planned to go into effect in 2017. Specifically, hospital coders and directors are worried about the codes being difficult and time-consuming to learn. Debra Seyfried, Director of Health Information Management and ICD-10 Management at University of Kansas Physicians, claims that Canada had an estimated 67% drop in coder productivity after its ICD-10 implementation between 2001 and 2005. Fortunately for the US, there is a 10-year gap between the Canada implementation and the US implementation, and more emphasis on planning and training.

Despite the concerns about this transition, ICD-10 has proven to be 88% successful in recent testing by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid. Almost 900 providers and agencies participated in this round of testing and CMS accepted 20,306 test claims out of 23,138. Health systems and other institutions have been urging lawmakers to implement ICD-10 right away, so that the full effect in October 2015 will have limited problems. A final end-to-end testing will be done in from July 20-24 to ensure a maximum success rate.

To learn more about the ICD-10 testing that occurred from April 27 through May 1, 2015, click here.

Outline of the Importance of ICD-10 and its Implementation