For a number of years, many in the healthcare industry have been frightened off by the highly overstated cost estimates for the implementation of ICD-10. Some estimates predicted the costs of this change at as high as approximately $85,000… for even a small practice with as few as three doctors. These sorts of very expensive-seeming cost estimates for ICD-10 implementation have played a big hand in the reason why so many healthcare professionals continue to resist it.
However, a study that was recently published in the Journal of AHIMA reexamined the actual costs of ICD-10 implementation, and what they found might surprise you. First and foremost, they discovered that the costs of ICD-10 implementation were astronomically lower in reality than many healthcare professionals believed them to be, due to a number of inaccurate overestimations that have seen widespread circulation in years past. For example, the study found the cost of ICD-10 implementation to range from $1,960-$5,900 for a small practice with as few as three doctors (which, one must admit, is quite a difference from the unbelievable previous overestimate of $85,000). They also found that the bulk of these costs were for related to education/training.
These new, and far lower, cost estimates for ICD-10 implementation were primarily due to the following two main factors:
- The costs of software upgrades have become minimal or nonexistent as more and more vendors have either lowered their upgrade fees or are no longer charging for it.
- Predictions about lost revenues due to reduced productivity were highly overstated in past estimates and, in reality, have turned out not to be as drastic as initially feared.
While budgeting decisions must be based on what is best for any practice, it would seem that fears about high transition costs are no longer an obstacle to ICD-10 implementation.
