ICD-10 transition costs lower than previously reported

If you’ve been putting off preparing for ICD-10 due to cost, you may be out of excuses. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Health Information Management Association found that the costs of converting to ICD-10 was much lower than previously reported for small practices.

A 2008 report by Nichimson Advisors to the American Medical Association estimated the cost of ICD-10 implementation would range from $22,560 to $105,506, but the new study found the cost was more in the $1,960 to $5,900 range.

ICD-10 now 1 year away, many ODs unprepared

“The controversial delay of ICD-10 implementation was based in part on the perceived time, cost and lost productivity for physician offices to perform the necessary assessment, training, software conversions, testing and ‘super bill’ updates,” the authors write. “Current evidence suggests that the initial estimates of the costs and effort associated with ICD-10 implementation for physician offices has been overestimated and that vendors, health plans, and physicians have made considerable progress with fewer resources than had been previously estimated.”

There were a number of reasons why this study found costs to be much lower than those previously reported. Although not directly related to ICD-10 conversion costs, the costs related to EHR adoption and healthcare initiatives like meaningful use were sometimes included in earlier ICD-10 cost estimates. The authors write that the coding industry is now more knowledgeable and prepared for ICD-10 than when the initial estimates were reported. And finally, the tools necessary to train for ICD-10 are available at a low cost. 

“With all the discussion of costs of ICD-10 implementation, it is easy to forget the reasons ICD-10 is critically needed,” the authors write. “It is also important to recognize that there was significant medical society input into the development of ICD-10 so that the additional specificity of ICD-10 reflects the detail requested by physicians.

Forgoing ICD-10 translates into a loss of up to $22 billion for the U.S. health care industry. This does not take into account the projected fiscal and public health benefits that would be lost every year that ICD-9 continues to be used.”

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