After two rounds of end-to-end ICD-10 testing, the results at the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance are "scary," executive director Holt Anderson told the Medical Group Management Association annual conference last week.
For 20 dual-coded and peer reviewed scenarios, results from the first test were 55 percent accurate, reported Government Health IT. That rate improved to a 63 percent accuracy rate in the second round.
But worker productivity dropped by 50 percent--from averaging two medical records per hour with ICD-10 compared to four or more under ICD-9.
"We selected some of the best of the best coders in these organizations," he said of the actual cases to be coded. Then, through peer review, they realized these coders weren't coding correctly in ICD-9, let alone ICD-10. For instance, "single, live births born in hospitals, delivered by Caesarian section" was coded totally wrong.
The consortium, which has more than 300 member organizations, created its own coding task force in 2010. The task force so far has conducted more than 200 dual-coded and peer-reviewed scenarios, and another 100 scenarios are still in the process.
Anderson said this will represent a major cash flow issue for healthcare organizations and urged providers to "group up" and "get on it."
By all accounts, most organizations are behind schedule with their ICD-10 implementations. An American Health Information Management Association analysis published earlier this year found hospital ICD-10 implementation efforts either are non-existent or still in their infancy. And the MGMA reported in June that just 4.8 percent of more than 1,200 responding medical groups had made "significant" progress in their ICD-10 implementation efforts.
The MGMA recommends that medical practices plan for 16 to 24 hours of training for the clinical staff and 40 to 60 hours for coding staff. Everyone from the appointment scheduler to physicians must understand specific documentation, medical necessity and third-party payer guidelines under the new code set, FiercePracticeManagement previously reported.
To learn more:
- read the Government Health IT article