Latest WEDI ICD-10 Survey Shows Physician Practices Have Work to Do

The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), a nonprofit authority on the use of HIT to create efficiencies in health care information exchange, announced the release of its findings from its June 2015 ICD-10 Industry Readiness Survey. In August letters to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, WEDI shared survey results and recommendations, strongly encouraging the department to continue to leverage its communication channels to promote the need for compliance because of the impact that noncompliance could have on the industry.

"While much of the industry is nearing readiness, nearly one-quarter of physician practice respondents said they will not be ready by the October 1, 2015, deadline and another one-quarter were unsure," says Jim Daley, WEDI past-chair and ICD-10 Workgroup cochair. "Without a dedicated and aggressive effort to complete implementation activities in the time remaining, this lack of readiness may lead to disruption in claims processing."

In its commitment to the industry, WEDI has produced many work products and tools to ensure a smooth transition to ICD-10 and these ongoing surveys have been designed to gauge stakeholder readiness. Highlights from the latest survey findings include the following:

• Physician practice testing and readiness: Only about 20% of physician practices have started or completed external testing and less than 50% responded that they were ready or would be ready for October 1. This is cause for concern.
• Hospital/health system testing and readiness: Almost 75% of hospitals and health systems have started or completed external testing. Additionally, nearly 90% responded that they were ready or would be ready by the compliance date, while a few were unsure if they would be ready.
• Health plan testing and readiness: Nearly 75% of health plans have begun or completed external testing. Forty percent responded that they were already prepared and the remaining 60% said they would be ready by October 1.   
• Vendor product development and availability: Seventy-five percent of vendor respondents have fully completed product development and no one responded that their products would not be ready by the compliance date.  

WEDI recommendations to HHS included the following:

• HHS should expeditiously provide full transparency regarding the readiness of individual Medicaid agencies by state.
• The recently-announced Ombudsman position should be appointed as soon as possible and WEDI strongly urges CMS to not wait until the compliance deadline to complete this appointment.
• 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.
• Additional outreach is needed in order to help providers with complying with most recent local coverage determination codes.

"It is critical to closely monitor industry progress and testing as we approach the compliance date to gauge what might occur on October 1, 2015," says Jean P. Narcisi, chair of WEDI. "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 health care industry."

Source: Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange