The switch to ICD-10 caused only a “dip” in coding accuracy and a slight decrease in productivity, according to a survey from the American Health Information Management Association Foundation.
There was a 14.15 percent drop in productivity with the new coding system, according to the survey's responses, and the decrease in accuracy was almost negligent, at about .65 percent, according to a blog post at the Journal of AHIMA.
In addition, not all respondents saw a decrease in productivity, about 5.8 percent noted an increase. Another 26 percent did not see a change in productivity, according to the survey.
“Health information management professionals are already coding with the same degree of accuracy as in ICD-9,” AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon said in the post. “Of course with any change there will be an initial period of productivity decline, but we fully expect this decrease will be short-term in nature. In fact, respondents indicated in the survey that they have become more comfortable with the new code set with each day and productivity decreases continue to lessen.”
The survey also found that professionals who had one to five years of coding experience had the lowest decrease in productivity, while those with more experience has the highest levels.
As the end of the first year under ICD-10 fast approaches, physicians who file claims under the Medicare Part B physician fee schedule must be mindful that the end of the one-year grace period for post-payment reviews also looms, FierceHealthIT previously reported.