Only 22% of Payors Fully Ready to Support ICD-10

In a survey of 106 leaders from healthcare payors, 35 percent of respondents named cost or ROI as their top concern when implementing organization-wide IT systems to meet coming mandates through healthcare reform, according to an Information Week report.

According to the report, many payors will need to upgrade their IT infrastructure to comply with mandates such as the transition to the ICD-10 coding system. Around 21 percent of payor leaders cited short deadlines to comply with mandates, such as the change to ICD-10 on Oct. 1, 2013.

Only 22 percent of payors said they were fully ready to support ICD-10, while 37 percent said they were “somewhat prepared.” Thirty-six percent had just started preparing for the transition, and just over 5 percent have not finished evaluating their IT capabilities or created a plan for the new coding system.

Payors may also be unprepared to support new payment models introduced through reform. Around 54 percent of payor leaders said they plan to support accountable care organizations, while 51 percent named pay-for-performance. Despite this readiness on the part of the majority of payor leaders to support ACOs, however, only 37 percent said they are ready to do so from a technology standpoint.

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