Many doctors and medical groups have fallen behind on their progress in updating to the new ICD-10 medical codes, prompting the government to consider extending the deadline to implement the new system. It was three years ago in 2009 that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service first announced that the U.S. would transition to the ICD-10, the newest revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
The ICD is a set of codes for diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases. Switching to the new version has proven difficult for many physicians struggling to get up to date.
Original Deadline Being Pushed Back
The original deadline that the government gave to medical groups for transitioning to the new system was October 1, 2013. This put a lot of pressure on the healthcare industry to get the new system with its numerous different codes up and running by the deadline but many fell behind.
A survey earlier last year showed that some of the healthcare industry was not on track to meet the deadline especially a number of small providers that have historically tracked behind in their readiness. One of the major problems preventing hospitals from making the switch over to the new system is how deeply ICD-9 has been rooted in the healthcare industry. Medical groups have made an effort to embed ICD-10 in the industry but the transition has been a slow and difficult one.
Healthcare Industry Struggling To Adjust
The changes that are taking place in the move to ICD-10 are taking time for those in the healthcare industry to adequately adjust to. One of the major changes from the old system to the new one is the dramatic increase in the amount of codes.
The ICD-9 had roughly 13,000 codes and limited space for additions while the ICD-10 will have around 68,000 available codes and the flexibility to add new ones. Many of the new codes are different from the old system and coders need to learn how to effectively search for them under the ICD-10.
More Codes And Longer Codes
In addition to simply having so many more codes than the old system, the ICD-10 uses longer codes in many cases and follows a different structure. It also includes the use of alphabetic codes as opposed to the old system which used only numeric codes. The alphabetic codes allow the system to be more specific and add extra information.
The push to switch to a new system for the healthcare industry is a result of the outdated technology used in the ICD-9. While the transition may be necessary to update medical systems, it is by no means an easy change for physicians and hospitals that have roots in the old system.
The government has made it possible for medical groups to have more time to switch by extending the deadline, a decision most likely based on the amount of people struggling behind in their progress. While the change may be slow going and a rough transition, it is a necessary move that will help keep the healthcare industry up to date.
Kenneth Gray is a medical billing and coding expert who is currently focues on implementing the new ICD-10 medical codes at A-Fordable Billing Solution.