Specialists Have Mixed Reactions to Usefulness of ICD-10

August 3rd, 2016 - Practice Suite   

When it was announced in May 2014 that the U.S. would be adopting the 10th edition of the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) starting Oct. 1, 2015, medical practices across the country began their preparations.
 
Not only did staffs have to create a timeline for implementing the transition, they had to document all the systems that utilized ICD-9, conduct an inventory of all their coding resources and tools, familiarize themselves with the new codes, contact vendors about software updates, train personnel and more.
 
Implementing ICD-10, which includes 140,000 medical codes, was a massive undertaking for healthcare organizations large and small and leading up to the deadline, many experts had dire predictions about how prepared the nation's doctors were.
 
For some practices, the update had an extreme impact.
 
Dr. Todd Jaffe, president and owner of Brevard Pain Management in Melbourne, Fla. said after ICD-10, he's finished.
 
"ICD-10 has been the catalyst to put my practice up for sale. I will retire within five years rather than work to age 75 and ICD-10 and EHR's are the reason."
 
Others were more neutral about the impact and usefulness of the new classification system.
 
"I think it is just something to get used to but otherwise neither good nor bad," said Dr. Mark Pleatman, a general surgeon based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. who specializes in minimally invasive general and bariatric surgery.
 
We checked in with doctors across the country for feedback about whether the implementation of ICD-10 was worth all the headaches. Here's what they had to say.

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