CIOS feeling anxious about ICD-10

The survey, conducted in November, featured responses from about 72 hospital CIOs. Of those who responded, 60 percent said their HIT vendors have not alerted them to the proposed new regulations and timelines for ICD-10/5010 implementations.

"Outreach efforts to vendors are under way, with the objective of encouraging development of education materials for CIO technical use as well as briefing senior management," said Sharon Canner, director of advocacy at CHIME. She added that other preparatory steps include the formation of an ICD-10 industry work group and coordination among hospital and health IT organizations.

Another concern among survey respondents is the amount of time they will have to test transactions with business partners and how those tests will be paid for.

According to the survey, CIOs don't know if ICD-10 upgrades from vendors will cost additional money. Some 72 percent of CIOs said they don't know if their vendors will include ICD-10 in annual software upgrades, and 53 percent don't know if the changes will be covered by "federal and state" clauses in their contracts, which generally leave vendors responsible for government-related software updates.

About 55 percent of CIOs surveyed by CHIME cite vendor readiness and cooperation as one of the top hurdles in achieving compliance with the new code and transaction sets. Second on the list is short- and long-term budgeting for the transition, mentioned by 45 percent of respondents.

Many CIOs said their operating budgets for 2009 are set, and any work required to transition to the new codes will have to come out of previously budgeted spending.

CIOs said other significant hurdles in making the transition include the impact on the organization's staff and provider communities (42 percent) and the need to implement education and awareness programs (35 percent).

Survey respondents said their immediate short-term action steps for implementing ICD-10/5010 include:

• coordinating and communicating with all necessary vendors (51 percent);

• establishing an interdisciplinary or interdepartmental task force to develop a plan of action 41 percent); and 

• developing educational or awareness programs (35 percent). 

Other actions planned by CIOs include estimating workforce staffing and training required for the conversion, identifying crosswalks between the current ICD-9-CM system and ICD-10, cataloging quality reporting initiatives and identifying testing mechanisms.

"The implementation date for the 5010 code set will come due in about a year, and the scheduled implementation date for the ICD-10 will be here before we know it," said Gretchen Tegethoff, CIO of George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and co-chairman of CHIME's Advocacy Leadership Team. "The greater the rush to implement, the greater the cost, and the industry is already under financial pressure because of the current economic crisis in the country."

As a hospital CIO, how do you feel about the pending transition? E-mail Associated Editor Molly Merrill at molly.merrill@medtechpublishing.com