Transition To ICD-10 Causing Concerns For Patient Data Safety

There appears to be more difficulties with the implementation of ICD-10.  A recent study finds patient safety indicators (PSIs) do not always translate accurately from ICD-9 to ICD-10.

Out of the 23 PSIs examined by the study, only three had “straightforward equivalents” in ICD-10. The others either had “convoluted mapping to ICD-10” or “no equivalents in ICD-10.” The study reports the inability to translate PSIs from ICD-9 to ICD-10 could increase the risk of “under-reported safety incidents”, “unwarranted inflation of PSIs because of ICD-10’s more-specified codes”, and “increase variability of calculations.”

The difficulties integrating PSIs into ICD-10 is another one of the ways the implementation of the new medical coding system could hurt physicians financially.

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