Physician Practices Lagging According to WEDI ICD-10 Survey
/WEDI, an organization dedicated to improving healthcare via health IT, recently revealed that only 20% of physician practices have started or completed ICD-10 external testing and less than 50% responded that they were ready or would be ready for the Oct. 1 deadline. The annual WEDI ICD-10 survey involved more than 621 respondents, consisting of 453 providers, 72 vendors and 96 health plans. The survey also found that almost 75% of hospitals and health systems have started or completed external testing and nearly 90% responded that they were ready or would be ready by the compliance date. Nearly 40% of health plans said that they were already prepared and the remaining 60% said they would be ready by October 1.
The impact that ICD-10 non-compliance could have on the industry is so significant that WEDI urged The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to use its communication channels to promote compliance. WEDI made key recommendations to the HHS including that they should quickly provide complete transparency regarding the readiness of individual Medicaid agencies by state. WEDI strongly urged CMS to not wait until the compliance deadline to complete the recently-announced Ombudsman position appointment.
In addition, the go-live ICD-10 support plan should include leveraging WEDI’s and CMS’ implementation support program, which already serves as the central source for collecting ICD-10 industry issues and solutions. Lastly, WEDI urged the HHS to increase outreach to help providers in complying with recent local coverage determination codes (LCDs). Jean P. Narcisi, chair of WEDI, said that, “In light of our most recent findings, we are hopeful that industry leaders take the necessary steps to help ensure that the transition to ICD-10 is completed with minimal disruption to the healthcare industry.”
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