11/17/14

Managing the ICD-10 Doubt #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

Managing the ICD-10 Doubt

11.14.14 by Linda Reed, R.N.



Despite widespread doubt that ICD-10 actually will happen next October, hospital leaders can ill-afford to stand pat. The consequences of doing nothing are severe, says CIO Linda Reed, R.N.



“The deadlines are not changing. … Let me repeat that, the deadlines ARE NOT changing.”



Karen Trudel, then acting director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Office of E-Health Standards and Services, uttered those now infamous words at the 2011 American Health Information Management Association’s ICD-10 Summit. Many of us, myself included, took that message as gospel and repeated it often to our leadership teams, our physicians and our boards. Based upon this certainty, we upgraded systems, prepared training programs, created clinical documentation improvement programs, and dedicated precious dollars to meeting this immovable deadline — flipping the switch on Oct. 1, 2013, from ICD-9 to ICD-10. Well, we all know how that turned out.



Fast forward to October 2014. Many organizations have slowed down, if not completely stopped, their ICD-10 preparations. When someone brings up the topic and asks when we plan to reinvigorate our efforts, the anemic enthusiasm is palpable. Based on the last experience, ongoing resistance by the American Medical Association and the lack of significantly confident messaging from Health & Human Services and CMS, it is hard to convince key constituents that, once again, we need to ramp up significant monetary and human resources to address ICD-10. It is hard to overcome the doubt.





Click the link above for access to the article


#ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

Get Remediator to assist in your readiness for the ICD-10 switchover www.icdremediator.com

No comments: