More than 80 percent of healthcare organizations believe there will be no more delays to ICD-10, according to recent research from QualiTest, a Fairfield, Ct.-based software testing company.
Although ICD-10 has been delayed two times already, and many critics gamble that ICD-10 implementation will be deferred yet again, 83 percent of respondents speculated that the current Oct. 1, 2015 deadline will indeed be the “go-live” date for the transition.
The survey included over 150 upper-level healthcare industry professionals, mostly in IT positions throughout the organizations. Most organizations (83 percent) did say that if the current Oct. 1 date stands, their health information management (HIM) systems will function properly following the transition.
Additionally, while two-thirds of the respondents believe that their revenue will be impacted with the advent of ICD-10, only 28 percent have performed any revenue impact testing with their payers. Further, 67 percent of the surveyed providers are relying solely on their clearinghouses to conduct ICD-10 testing. This implies that providers are dependent that their clearinghouses to perform accurate and comprehensive ICD-10 testing, rather than taking responsibility for their own testing, according to the researchers.
The data also found that 28 percent of the providers use automated testing techniques to increase test coverage and improve efficiency and productivity. This is opposed to the 56 percent of respondents who reported that they are solely using manual testing to ensure that their ICD-10 testing will seamlessly integrate in both internal and external systems.
