Navigating regulatory change: preliminary lessons learned during the healthcare provider transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS

This article presents the findings of a collaborative effort between the Georgetown University Student Consulting Team and Booz Allen Hamilton to interview healthcare providers undergoing the transition to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification/Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-CM/PCS). The goals of this study were to extract a common set of trends, challenges, and lessons learned surrounding the implementation of the ICD-10-CM/PCS code set and to produce actionable information that might serve as a resource for organizations navigating the transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS. The selected survey sample focused on a subset of large hospitals, integrated health systems, and other national industry leaders who are likely to have initiated the implementation process far in advance of the October 2013 deadline. Guided by a uniform survey tool, the team conducted a series of one-on-one provider interviews with department heads, senior staff members, and project managers leading ICD-10-CM/PCS conversion efforts from six diverse health systems. As expected, the integrated health systems surveyed seem to be on or ahead of schedule for the ICD-10-CM/PCS coding transition. However, results show that as of April 2010 most providers were still in the planning stages of implementation and were working to raise awareness within their organizations. Although individual levels of preparation varied widely among respondents, the study identified several trends, challenges, and lessons learned that will enable healthcare providers to assess their own status with respect to the industry and will provide useful insight into best practices for the ICD-10-CM/PCS transition.