I’ve been writing quite a bit recently about ICD-10. You may enjoy this post I wrote about the real problem of ICD-10 being UNCERTAINTY. I’ve seen a lot of good reasons why we should go forward with ICD-10 and there’s no doubt that the move to ICD-10 does not come without a cost (training, implementation, system testing, etc). Although, not knowing if ICD-10 is coming or not is absolutely killer.
There are a lot of great ICD-10 resources out there to help you with your ICD-10 transition strategies. Although, I think most hospitals are wondering if they should prepare for ICD-10 or not. Those that were getting prepared last year got burned. Now they’re likely wondering if they’re going to get burned again. Those that weren’t prepared for ICD-10 last year were saved and they’re likely hoping to be saved again.
How is your hospital approaching ICD-10? Are you going forward with ICD-10 preparation using projects that are masked as Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) programs? Are you in wait and see mode? Are you going full bore in preparing, training, and testing for ICD-10?
I said that last one kind of ironically. I haven’t seen any organization that’s doing that right now which is really amazing. Last year at this time, I knew a bunch of organizations that were fully engage in preparations for ICD-10. This year, no such message. Last year at this time, many were calling for ICD-10 preparation. This year, people are afraid that they’re going to be “the boy who cried wolf.” There’s only so many times you can cry ICD-10 before people stop listening. We might be there already. It’s amazing the power of uncertainty.
As I said in my ICD-10 uncertainty post linked above:
My gut tells me that if ICD-10 isn’t delayed in the SGR Fix bill next year, then ICD-10 will probably go forward. You’ll notice that probably was the best I could say. Can anyone offer more certainty on the future of ICD-10? I don’t think they can and that’s the problem.
How Is Your Hospital Approaching ICD-10?