November 1, 2013
It was announced this week that Sutter Health will be taking their ICD-10 codes live four months early. This provides a new look at the status of industry preparedness. Up until now, there has been concern over the progress that hospitals have made toward ICD-10. Sutter Health’s early go-live gives a brighter look at the state of ICD-10 readiness. While they have been working on their transition for three years (according to an article in EHR Intelligence), the fact that they are prepared offers inspiration to other organizations.
One of the most important contributors to Sutter Health’s readiness is their “trifold approach” to physician education. Sutter Health used a mixture of outreach, physician champions, and targeted online and mobile education. Their success with this method may prove to be a model for other providers.
With the announcement of Sutter Health’s early go-live, the industry is becoming more aware of the reality that providers’ readiness is all over the board. A reporter at Government Health IT discusses a takeaway from the AHIMA conference this week — that the industry’s readiness still comprises all points between not-knowing and already prepared. With the deadline less than a year away, it is time for all providers who fall near the “not-knowing” point to get their organization in gear.
A strong emphasis is being placed on big data and analytics in the healthcare industry. As more data is available it is becoming apparent that there is a gap in the skills and support required to use data in a meaningful way. A recent study performed by the IBM Institute for Better Technology exposes the gaps in characteristics required to effectively use big data and analytics. FierceHealth IT covered the study this week, and described the ways healthcare organizations fail to champion big data. According to the study, it is apparent that the skills and leadership required to realize the impact are not in place in many areas of healthcare. The article provides a look at what needs to be done to shift the current situation.
CommonWell Health Alliance is approaching the start of its first health information exchange pilot program. This week, company officials at the new interoperability coalition of health IT companies used AHIMA’s annual conference in Atlanta to highlight the biggest health information exchange challenges currently facing vendors and providers. The hurdles they focused on are patient matching, data access, and costs. More details on these issues and recommendations for overcoming them can be found in the coverage on Healthcare IT News.