The switch to ICD-10 is still due for the United States, since the rest of the developed countries like UK, France and Australia have made the changeover from ICD-9 to ICD-10 back in the 1990s.
ICD-10 was introduced to physicians and provides them with a more precise way of coding the patient data. This is important as the diagnosis and their relevant treatments have changed significantly in the last decade since the beginning of ICD-9. However some physicians have their apprehensions about the enhancement in specificity that can lead them to more claim denials.But there is no need to be worried about. Using the ICD-10 will help remove uncertainty and will eventually reduces the amount of documentation needed to validate the claims. Thus there will be fewer denials as it will be easy to assign the codes correctly.

Challenges faced in transformation 

The ICD-9 is in the use for very long time that it has become an important part of our health system. From technical schools to the professional ICD-9 coders and insurance companies. All of them have a system built on use of ICD-9.
Small practices are going to hit the hardest by this change. In a study carried out by the American Medical Association (AMA) in collaboration with other medical groups, the transformation cost can be as much $84000 for small practices and $300,000 for practices consisting of 10 physicians. Most of these costs are associated with training of the staff, revision of super bills and modifications in work and cash flows. The study further revealed that payer contracts and enlarged documentation costs are additional costs to overcome.

Overcoming the challenges  

As the deadline draws closer, physicians are trying their best to make sure their revenues are not affected by the ICD-10.
Maybe the most important part of transformation for the practices is to synchronize themselves with their vendors in order to make smooth transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10. However there will be a significant fee the clients have to pay in order to upgrade to the new coding set.
Much more will be required than just a quality health IT vendor for a smooth transition to ICD-10. Physicians have to study on the new regulations and prepare themselves for ICD-10. Also a fair amount of training will be needed. Attending webinars about ICD-10 and utilizing any kind of material to get staff ready for the change.
It is important that you prepare your practice for the ICD-10 before October 2014 and make the appropriate decisions that will help you avert paying high price for the transformation. Although the early stages of ICD-10 will not be simple, but preparing and planning ahead of time will help you save lots of effort and make it less painful.