Changes Will Be Costly
Although information systems are the 800-pound gorilla in the room, the financial impact weighs in at around 799 pounds. Estimates of the costs of implementing ICD-10 vary widely.
For example, Nachimson Advisors, LLC, estimates it will cost the typical small practice with three doctors and two administrative staff around $83,000 to fully implement ICD-10. For a large practice employing 100 providers and 64 staff members, the price tag could be as much as $2.7 million.
Some of these costs will be easy to quantify and plan for. After consulting with your information management vendors and looking at the maintenance contracts, the practice should have a good idea of how much to budget for new programs, new hardware, and training on that part of the changeover.
Other areas will require further study before a budget can be put in place. Staff competence in the software and hardware is the first step. After that comes the training of appropriate people on the actual codes.
