Your 2015 ICD-10 budget

The offical transition to the ICD-10 coding set takes place next October (or so we hope). Many providers have already spent a good deal of money preparing for the inevitable, but even so, you need to make certain that select ICD-10 costs are included in your 2015 budget.

How much are you planning to spend on ICD-10 implementation? It's more complicated than buying new software and ICD-10 coding books. Medical practices especially will need to allocate resources — time and money — in four key areas:

1. Coding
2. Revenue cycle
3. Project management
4. IT

[See also: ICD-10 and revenue cycle readiness.]

More specifically, medical practices will need to prepare for costs such as:

• Software and hardware
  • In house and vendor modifications
  • Upgrades
  • New software, systems and equipment
• Education
  • Coder training
  • Clinician education
  • Awareness raising
• Testing related costs
• Staff time needed for:
  • Implementation planning
  • Training
  • Testing
  • Vendor management
• Temp staffing to assist with extra work resulting from:
  • Decreased coding productivity
  • Billing backlogs
  • Claims denial and rejection management
  • IT work on upgrades and systems
  • Lost time during training
• Consulting services
• Forms and reports
  • Redesign
  • Printing costs
• Data conversion
• Dual coding
  • Added time
  • Maintaining data collection
  • Analyzing data
• Contingencies
  • Software that doesn't work
  • Staffing issues

These costs, which could be substantial, need to be assigned to the appropriate department budgets. And ICD-10 budgeting planning doesn't stop Oct. 1, 2015. Medical practices will need more staffing to deal with productivity, claims management and software upgrades after the ICD-10 deadline.

ICD-10 budgeting takes some work, but it will help medical practices be prepared for a successful ICD-10 transition.