Reaction to ICD-10 Delay Is Mixed

The decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to give some health-care organizations more time to transition to the new ICD-10 disease and procedure classification system didn't garner much support among health IT professionals surveyed at a recent industry conference.

Health-care software company Edifecs Inc., of Bellevue, Wash., conducted the survey at an ICD-10 summit it hosted shortly after the mid-February announcement by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She cited concerns by health-care providers about the "administrative burdens" involved in complying with the current deadline of Oct. 1, 2013.

ICD-10 is short for International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. Physicians, hospitals and insurers use the codes to track and manage diagnosis, treatment and payment information. Most other countries have already transitioned to ICD-10.

Among the findings:

• 64 percent of respondents said that rather than improving readiness for the eventual transition, a delay would prompt organizations to slow implementation to focus on other priorities.
• 85 percent said any delay exceeding a year would likely prompt budget freezes or work stoppages on transition efforts, with 69 percent saying a two-year delay would be "potentially catastrophic" or "unrecoverable."
• 59 percent opposed setting different compliance dates for different organizations, with most concerned about the cost and effort of processing two sets of classification codes.
• 76 percent said a delay would stand in the way of other health-care reform.

"The message we heard loud and clear ... was to keep moving while the industry awaits the final decision on the extended deadline and which entities will be affected," said Sunny Singh, Edifecs' chief executive officer, in a news release. "The survey results tell us that stopping or slowing down work is a very real outcome of a delay, and it could derail a health-care organization's progress. The cost implications alone are worrisome."

Nearly half of the respondents predicted a one-year delay would drive costs up by 11 percent to 25 percent, while 37 percent said the increase could be as much as 50 percent. Edifecs' estimate is in the middle, at 25-30 percent.