ICD-10 Delay: What It Means to Healthcare Educators and Students

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For a second time, legislation was passed to delay the implementation of ICD-10 code sets used by healthcare providers until October 1, 2015. This decision will cause a one-year setback from an original adoption date on October 1, 2014. The announcement was in addition to a previous delay that occurred in August 2012.

Many organizations have been diligently working to train their coders and care providers for some time now. With the delay, clinicians and coders worry about losing their knowledge.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) responded to the signing of H.R. 4302 with a statement quoting CMS as saying that this delay could potentially cost the healthcare industry 6.6 billion dollars. Medical businesses have been working to educate both their coding and IT staff for months. Now they may have to retrain their staff in 2015, assuming there are no further delays.

ICD-10 Delay: What It Means to Healthcare Educators
ICD 10 healthcare educatorsHealthcare educators and students have been negatively affected. The ICD-10 delay has significantly impacted healthcare educators. Instructors are now required to adjust their teaching timelines and curriculum to cover both ICD-9 and ICD-10 for students. Because students need to learn the current system, as well as the future system, educators will have to teach both systems concurrently.

The delay means students will need to learn ICD-9 coding for an additional year. The delay also hurts students who are ready to enter their profession this year. Learning two different coding systems at the same time is extremely challenging for students. Those students who are at the end of their programs, and may have delayed coding courses so they would only need to learn the ICD-10, will now be required to learn both systems.

Students who learned ICD-10 coding, and who have recently graduated, won’t have the opportunity to use their new skills. It’s quite possible that these students will forget some of their ICD-10 coding skills if they are only using ICD-9 codes. Students may need to take additional classes or refresher courses and study the new codes a second time.

The delay also affects educators’ budgets. In anticipation for the ICD-10 transition, educators created budgets that would drop the resources needed to teach ICD-9 courses. Now, those courses must continue to be taught, and instructors’ salaries, classroom materials, and other necessary resources must come out of the existing budget.

Delaying the implementation of ICD-10 coding may help physicians and healthcare systems that were not prepared for the transition, but the setback has significantly hurt current students and put a larger burden on healthcare educators’ time and budgets.

For more information about making the transition to ICD-10, contact us today.

ICD-10: Ready or Not, Here It Comes

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ICD-10 avidity medical designThe only thing constant in life is change. This saying has always been true.

One of the biggest changes that will occur in 2014 is the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 on October 1, 2014. Results of a recent Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) survey show that less than 10 percent of physician practices are ready for ICD-10. MGMA president and CEO, Susan L. Turney, made it very clear that immediate action is required to prepare for the October deadline:

“The critical coordination that must take place between practices and their software vendor, clearinghouse and health plan partners is simply not happening at the pace required for a seamless implementation.”

In the same MGMA survey, over 85 percent of physician practices were concerned or very concerned about expected changes in clinical documentation, loss of clinician productivity, and loss of coding staff productivity after the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10.

It is time for the majority of healthcare providers and organizations to begin preparing for the upcoming transition to ICD-10. The shift to ICD-10 means that physicians, coders, and other HIM professionals must be up to speed on the changes to diagnosis code assignment and ready to assign ICD-10 codes accurately, completely, and efficiently by October 1, 2014.

I hear and I forget

I see and I remember

I do and I understand

Avidity Medical Design will help you understand the changes that will occur with ICD-10. We will also develop customized ICD-10 curriculum to prepare your staff for ICD-10 coding prior to the scheduled implementation on October 1, 2014.