11/15/2013
Midlands Choice recently sent an initial survey to payers to poll their readiness with regards to the October 2014 ICD-10 implementation.
When asked how far along their organization is in preparing processes and applications for ICD-10, 90% of participants responded that they are actively preparing, 6% indicated that they are ready. 72% of respondents indicated that they do not intend to implement a timely filing grace period, despite the industry-wide expectation of delays in billing.
In response to the question, “What will your organization’s policy be concerning claims with dates of service on or after October 1, 2014 that are filed with ICD-9 codes,” 25% stated that they would reject the claim for invalid diagnosis code, 19% will pay the claim according to their current ICD-9 payment policies and the remainder were undecided. 78% of those surveyed indicated that given the level of billing specificity available with ICD-10, their organization has not yet determined what their policy will be for claims submitted with unspecified ICD-10 codes; 15% indicated that they would request more information from the provider.
Midlands Choice will be conducting a follow up survey with payers during first quarter of 2014. We will also be sending an initial readiness survey to providers during first quarter of next year.