Update on the BIDMC ICD10 Project

I've written extensively about the challenge of implementing ICD10 and my belief that the billions of dollars required to implement it will not improve quality, safety, or efficiency.

I've spoken to many people at HHS, CMS and the White House about the need to rethink the ICD10 timeline, deferring it until after Meaningful Use Stage 3  which enables us to focus on improving our clinical documentation and adopt  SNOMED-CT  to capture structured signs and symptoms.

However, I've been told that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes cost savings from reduction in healthcare costs/fraud/abuse that require the implementation of ICD10.  Thus, it's not likely going to be delayed.

At Beth Israel Deaconess, we're moving forward, assuming that ICD10 must be implemented by October 1, 2013.     We held our kickoff meeting in June, hired external resources to create a project management office, and hired subject matter expert consultants to assist with the gap analysis, project plan and budget.

Today, I'm posting two resources for the benefit of other organizations planning their ICD-10 projects.

The first is the RFA we used to hire a consulting partner.   In our case, we elected to create a single unified project for the academic medical center, community hospitals, physician organization, faculty practice, and owned community practice.   We felt that creating one project for all the stakeholders would reduce costs while eliminating redundancy and aligning resources.

The second is the letter we sent to all our stakeholders, asking them to create an inventory of the software applications and processes that incorporate ICD9 and need to support ICD10.

In the next few weeks, we'll complete our detailed project plan, budgets, staffing model, and timeline.    I'll share as much as I can as soon as it is available.

ICD-10 is a costly project that will have no benefits and if we're truly successful, the best we can hope for is that no one will be too upset that we implemented it.

Given a project with this many negatives (here's the AMA letter to Speaker of the House John  Boehner), the least I can do is share everything we're implementing in the hopes that others will benefit from our experience.