What You Told Us About ICD-10

Last month we asked you to take a brief survey about ICD-10. About 1,500 of you did, and we thank you. We will be sending out the survey again periodically as we move closer to ICD-10 implementation on October 1, 2015. We hope to see these numbers improve.

The "not ready" numbers for ICD-10 are in the minority. Fortunately, a majority of providers are at least on the way to ICD-10 readiness. However, there is clearly still work to be done.

Some key results from the survey:
  • 35% of respondents have not started ICD-10 implementation
  • Most common reasons for not yet completing ICD-10 preparations:
-       Other priorities / competing projects
-       Not enough staffing / resources
-       Do not know enough about it
  • 33% have not received ICD-10 information from their billing vendor
  • 25% do not know if their practice management software is compliant
  • 36% are uncertain if they will be ready for ICD-10 by October 1
This is a call to action. Providers must use ICD-10 codes starting October 1 or their claims will deny and they won't get paid from any insurer, private or public. ICD-10 has to be a priority.
We urge providers to take advantage of available resources to learn about ICD-10, especially the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) at http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD10/index.html.
ICD-10 preparedness is an investment in future business. To start, talk to your billing vendor and practice management software company. Are they ready for ICD-10?
The key to success come October 1 will be for all components of the claim submission process - from provider forms and business processes to practice management software to billing vendors to payers, including NCTracks - to be ICD-10 compliant. For links to more ICD-10 resources, see the NCTracks ICD-10 webpage on the provider portal.