Now only a couple of months away from January 1, 2011, a recent readiness survey from HIMSS indicates that a significant portion of providers won’t be ready to begin testing HIPAA 5010 with trading partners by that date, as suggested by CMS.
Most organizations reported their ICD-10 efforts were at a similar stage, though there is more time for them to catch up to the curve, as the ICD-10 go live date is 21 months later in October 2013.
According to the survey, more than half (51 percent) reported that finding staff, particularly knowledgeable staff, was a major challenge in their 5010 readiness efforts.
But waiting to get the ball rolling won’t solve the problem, especially with the January 1, 2012 go-live date looming, said Joe Miller, director, E-business for Philadelphia-based Amerihealth Mercy, and immediate past chair, HIMSS Financial Systems Steering Committee.
“I think what is likely to happen is we will get to the last quarter of 2011 and there is going to be a rush to implement,” Miller said. “If that is what happens, there will be some real challenges for organizations to find adequate resources and adequate attention from their trading partners to try to implement in an orderly fashion.”
Nearly half of survey respondents also reported they need more information on 5010, but that need not be the case.
“AAHAM and HIMSS have been a good source of information,” noted Christine L. Stottlemyer, director of patient accounting for Memorial Hospital in York, Pa., and 1st vice president of the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management (AAHAM). “In addition, we have relied on information from the CMS website including the Checklist for Level I Testing Activities and the Provider Action Checklist for a Smooth Transition.”
While Memorial Hospital may be on track, the survey indicated that as of spring this year, more than one-third of all providers (35 percent) had yet to consider their 5010 planning.
According to Miller, that lack of preparation could negatively affect other efforts, including ICD-10 down the road.
“Unless we se a significant shift in late 2010 of providers making an effort to test by 2011, it will be a rocky road toward implementation,” Miller noted. “That is going to present some tough times when we don’t test adequately and have time for follow up.
“It’s a question of how long will it take to pick up the pieces from the fallout and how much is that going to distract us from other things on the agenda, like ICD-10?”