ICD-10 Selling Coding Systems

Are those coders in the basement about to see their pink slips? Maybe so, within the coming two years, as roughly half of inpatient providers say they expect to buy automated coding solutions over the next one to two years.

According to a new report released by KLAS Research, many healthcare providers are seriously considering purchases of inpatient computer-assisted coding (CAC) systems during the coming 24 months, despite the ICD-10 deadline delay to a recently proposed date of October 1, 2014.

Providers say that encoder/grouper integration is particularly important. 73% of providers reported that they are considering 3M, which currently holds a 50% market share and three quarters of the inpatient encoder market.  OptumInsight and Dolbey have also generated strong interest among providers.

Interest in CAC is being driven by concerns about the productivity impact that ICD-10 will have on providers' practices in both outpatient and inpatient settings. The transition to ICD-10 cranks up the number of diagnostic codes to 68,000 from 13,000 in the ICD-9 code set. Codes for inpatient procedures will shoot from 11,000 to 87,000 codes.