News Feature | February 25, 2015

WEDI Releases ICD-10 Readiness Survey

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

ICD-10 Delay Pressures CMS

The survey will attempt to assess provider readiness in anticipation of October 2015 deadline.

The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) has released an ICD-10 readiness survey to determine how well the healthcare industry is progressing towards the Oct. 1, 2015 implementation deadline. The deadline for completing the survey is March 6, 2015 at which point WEDI will evaluate and compile the results into an industry report.

Providers, health plans, vendors, and clearinghouses are invited to participate in this initiative to help monitor progress as the implementation deadline looms.

“WEDI has been conducting these surveys since 2009, allowing us to gain a broad perspective on the readiness status for different sections of the industry, and to gauge how quickly they are progressing,” Jim Daley, WEDI past-chair and ICD-10 Workgroup co-chair, explained in a press release.

“Since the shift to ICD-10 represents such a significant change to the industry, it is imperative that all organizations stay diligently focused and continue the necessary preparations in order to make the conversion in Oct. 2015 as smooth as possible. This survey is an important part of the educational and advisory roles our organization plays within the industry on ICD-10 and other health IT matters – bringing together all industry sectors to deliver a successful transition.”

In September, WEDI released the results of its previous ICD-10 readiness survey which found that, while vendors and health plans continued to make progress despite the delay of testing and other tasks to 2015, providers demonstrated a clear lack of progress when compared to October 2013. Since 2009, WEDI has conducted nine ICD-10 readiness surveys in an effort to gain a broad perspective on the readiness status for different sections of the industry, and to gauge how quickly they are progressing towards the Oct. 1, 2015 implementation deadline.

WEDI will continue to conduct surveys throughout 2015, and information collected from these surveys will help determine where additional outreach and education is needed.