While healthcare providers are making progress toward 5010 compliance, many are lagging behind the timeline set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to results from the HIMSS 5010/ICD-10 Industry Readiness survey.
The results, released Aug. 16, suggest that most providers will not be ready to start testing by Jan. 1, 2011, with only 38 percent reporting they have an ongoing project in the area and 35 percent indicating they have no plans to implement a project around the area.
“There is growing concern that the industry will only do minimum testing before the go live date,” says John Casillas, senior vice president for HIMSS Business-Centered Systems.
The 5010 transactions address electronic claims, electronic eligibility verification, electronic claim status, electronic referral certification and authorization, electronic remittance and more.
A majority of respondents to the survey indicated they would take an approach of upgrading systems, while also indicating challenges in finding knowledgeable staff and vendors ready for this transition.
The survey also found that providers are having difficulty with competing priorities. For example, efforts to qualify for HITECH electronic health record incentives and other business initiatives appear to be eclipsing 5010, the next electronic data interchange, or EDI, version upgrade for health data transactions, as an organizational priority.
The survey was conducted between April-June of 2010 with a total of 202 usable responses with 181 from providers. Hospitals/facilities represented 74 percent of the responses and provider practices represented 26 percent.
HIMSS collaborated with the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management to distribute the most recently completed survey.
