ICD-10 will come on Oct. 1, healthcare providers say, but many aren't prepared

Qualitest survey found 28 percent of organizations said they have done any revenue impact testing with payers.

The vast majority of organizations think ICD-10 will go live for healthcare providers on Oct. 1, but that doesn’t mean they’re all prepared for the switch to the new diagnostic coding vocabulary.

A new survey by testing firm Qualitest found 83 percent of healthcare organizations surveyed in April expect ICD-10 to launch without delay. The switch has been delayed twice before, but many experts think that the recently passed law to repeal the sustainable growth rate without including another ICD-10 delay in the bill means there’s little chance lawmakers will delay ICD-10 before Oct. 1.

[Also: Senate passes SGR bill 92 to 8]

The biggest worry over ICD-10 has been on the financial side, which the Qualitest survey supports: 67 percent surveyed said they expect the change to affect revenue.

Many organizations are taking advantage of testing options ahead of the change, but not all of them. The survey found 46 percent of organizations chose not to participate in end-to-end testing in January with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, though 61 percent said they plan to join the next round of CMS testing. At the same time, only 28 percent said they have done any revenue impact testing with payers.

[Also: ICD-10 passes end-to-end testing, CMS says]

Instead, 67 percent said have conducted testing with clearinghouses, third-parties that help facilitate things like billing and transaction processing. And only 22 percent said they’ve used outside contractors to assist in ICD-10 testing.

The good news is healthcare organizations seem prepared on the tech side. About 83 percent said they have already updated their health information management systems for ICD-10, and 83 percent expect them to work just fine.

Qualitest surveyed 150 high-level managers in healthcare organizations for this survey.

Twitter: @HenryPowderly