The longer the delay the worse for hospitals that have been planning for the ICD-10 transition
YAKIMA, WASH.—March 2, 2012—VitalWare (www.vitalware.com), the leading provider of ICD-10 intelligence, today released the results of a survey of 500 healthcare entities about the effect that the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ postponement of the ICD-10 deadline will have on their transition plans.
VitalWare provides vendor management for hundreds of hospitals and clinics, tracking and monitoring approximately one thousand vendors for ICD-10 readiness. In its recent survey, an overwhelming majority of respondents (64%) reported they intend to continue working toward the transition. One respondent said, “I can only speculate what the delay may be at this point. Regardless, our organization is moving forward with the ICD-10 project and we feel that it will allow us to do ICD-10 just that much better.” Said another respondent: “We planned to be ready, and anticipate that we will be whether there is a delay or not.”
However, respondents wanted to know a firm date for compliance and said the longer the delay, the worse it would be for their eventual transition. According to 74% of respondents, the worst-case scenario would be no decision on the compliance deadline for a prolonged period of time. As one respondent said, “We hope to hear the new compliance date soon, not knowing is the worst outcome possible.”
Survey respondents also expressed concerns that the delay would increase their costs and slow their momentum:
“We have consultants and vendors hired to be here. If we stop they will go elsewhere and it will be near impossible to get them back. If ICD-10 is delayed it will only cost us much more than originally budgeted!”
“My concern is that the momentum we just built will be sidelined by a delay. Getting staff geared up a second time will be difficult and costly.”
“We were ready to begin the coder training modules when the delay was announced. We have now postponed for at least three weeks until we hear more. We are afraid to begin if this will place us a year (or two) ahead of where we want to be on a training timeline.”
“There are several key issues: 1.) Education and training will be pushed into another year requiring dollars earmarked for clinical projects to be put on hold so the budgets can be redirected once again to ICD10. 2.) It requires a re-evaluation of all implementation and implementation timelines. 3.) It requires significant contract review and renegotiation 4.) It gives some managers/administrators/physicians the idea that ICD10 will never be implemented and project resources and planning are not necessary.”
“I believe that more funding will be needed for training, compliance, upgrades, etc. due to the delay. “
“Our clients have been working diligently to meet the federally mandated deadline for transitioning to ICD-10. This transition is a marathon event for those organizations that were doing what they were supposed to do in the timeframe required,” said Kerry Martin, CEO of VitalWare. “Now they are being challenged by having to go back to the starting line with those who have procrastinated. It’s reassuring to see most of our clients are still full speed ahead, but that will change shortly if we do not hear from HHS real soon! No news is the worst news.”
About VitalWare
Headquartered in Yakima, Washington, VitalWare leads the market in transforming ICD-10 intelligence into useful and actionable information thereby allowing our clients to focus their time and resources on core business. The VitalView platform, its flagship product, provides real-time insight into ICD-10 vendor readiness with an executive dashboard, helping healthcare organizations improve vendor management and make informed decisions for sustained productivity, uninterrupted reimbursement and improved project management. For more information, visit www.vitalware.com or call 855-GOICD10.
