Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Government
August 05, 2014 01:00 AM

ICD-10: Is it for clinicians or reimbursement?

Joseph Conn
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    There's a division among physician informaticists about whether the national conversion to ICD-10 should—or even will—take place next year, despite the latest line in the sand deadline by the CMS for compliance by Oct. 1, 2015.

    The bigger issue at play here is whether a new diagnostic coding system should first answer doctors' needs for care delivery, or answer healthcare business needs for a system that facilitates reimbursements for care.

    While many physician informaticists may be resigned to the fact there will be a conversion, that doesn't mean all are happy about it, said Dr. William Bria, president of the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems, a professional association for physician informaticists.

    The CMS Thursday issued a final rule on ICD-10, providing only the minimum amount of delay permitted by Congress in March when it pushed back for at least one year the conversion date from the previous compliance deadline, Oct. 1, 2014.

    “Part of the government's problem is that the delay gives people a chance to think about it,” Bria said. “Now, there's the opportunity for people to say, wait a second.”

    Not that change isn't needed. The ICD-9 coding system in current use can't distinguish between the right eye or the left, for example, and that is “a travesty. It's a joke,” Bria said. On the other hand, the more complex ICD-10 coding system isn't the first choice for physicians, who instead favor the even more fine-grained SNOMED clinical coding system.

    The choice between SNOMED or ICD-10 reflects “the dichotomy in American healthcare,” Bria said, a choice between clinicians' needs for a coding system, “a way of making sense of the world for delivering care, understanding disease processes, what services we're providing, how does it turn out, what did you use,” and the business need “to account for services rendered and, therefore, reimbursement.”

    “If we're trying to disambiguate the costs of healthcare with the services rendered, then why are we trying to confuse the situation?” Bria said. “Why don't you use the one that makes more sense to the people who actually know healthcare?” which, to Bria's way of thinking, is SNOMED and clinicians.

    The 47,000-member Texas Medical Association has been in the forefront of AMA affiliates pushing back on ICD-10.

    With ICD-10, “We're implementing something that's 25 years old,” said Dr. Joseph Schneider, chairman of the TMA's practice management committee. “It predates modern health information technology.”

    “We have so much to concentrate on, including implementing SNOMED, let's make ICD-10 optional and work like banshees to get ICD-11 implemented as quickly as we can,” Schneider said. “If it's optional, some people will do it.” That way, those innovators can learn what's good and bad about ICD-10 “and that will help us get to ICD-11 quicker.”

    While the CMS has set yet another ICD-10 compliance date, Schneider said Congress may not be through with the controversy.

    “I wouldn't be surprise before the midterm (elections) that there is one more run at getting this put off again,” Schneider said. “I would give it a 60-40 chance that it's going to happen, or at least someone will try to make something happen.”

    “Obviously, all of us are back in the mode of preparing for October of next year, but we're also limiting exposure,” Schneider said. “I'm advising the TMA to not give courses on ICD-10, but steering people to other people's courses.” That way, the society isn't on the hook, spending for training programs if the deadline is delayed yet again, he said.

    Follow Joseph Conn on Twitter: @MHJConn

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    abortion-pill-misoprostol-legal
    Abortion pill case advances to appeals court, on course to Supreme Court
    young doctor medical resident
    Federal physician recruitment program at risk
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare Alert: Sign up for this breaking news email to be kept in the loop as urgent healthcare business news unfolds.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing