The Gift of the ICD-10 Delay

A silver lining: a chance to re-energize efforts around broader strategic imperatives

By Bonnie S. Cassidy, MPA, RHIA, FAHIMA, FHIMSS for Advance for Health Information Professionals

While some are relieved, the majority of hospital organizations are frustrated with the continued delay of ICD-10 implementation, given all the time, energy and resources that have been devoted to preparation. However, the silver lining in the delay is that it enables these organizations to re-energize efforts around broader strategic imperatives toward high-quality clinical documentation. Health systems should seize the opportunity to improve performance under ICD-9, now that they have the breathing room to evaluate clinical documentation goals and objectives. From driving quality improvement through physician engagement to implementing or fine tuning clinically-focused documentation improvement programs, there is still a lot of work to be done under the current system.

Read the entire article at Advance for Health Information Professionals.