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Welcome relief from ICD-10
Last weekend, I attended Vision Expo East in New York. I am always amazed by the size of the exhibit hall and can often get a “pulse” of the profession by wandering around and seeing which exhibits are “hot” and which are “cold.”
In years past, I have often seen a great deal of traffic at the frame vendors. This year, I noted less traffic in that area but an uptick in visitors to the high-end diagnostic Instruments. Optometrists seemed to be making comparisons and taking advantage of show specials. In general, this seemed consistent with a shift to more medical care and away from the traditional frame and lens aspect of optometric practice.
I also noted more exhibitors with electronic medical records and other displays of the management of electronic data. I spent some time with some of my vendor friends in this space and had an interesting discussion about the then-pending deadline to move from ICD-9 to ICD-10.
ICD-9 is the long standing International Statistical Classification of Diseases revision 9 that was developed in 1975. This has been the standard for all of my career and the standard for optometry as we evolved from an optical-based profession into an essential primary care medical profession. The health care insurance industry and the vendors of electronic health records have bet heavily on this being the year for the big change.
Since the last postponement of the change, I have witnessed many health administrators wearing large buttons with quotes like: “ICD-10 October 2014 – This time for sure.”
In spite of the enthusiasm and large investment of health care managers and administrators in making this sweeping change, I have seen little – frankly zero – interest on the part of health care providers in making the change. Most providers, myself included, are still reeling from making the change to electronic medical records. This alone changed our routines, slowed us down, decreased our efficacy and befuddled our office staff. Add to that the sweeping changes that are just beginning as we assimilate the Affordable Care Act and you have a community that would not be able to handle sweeping revision to the way we code for medical care.
What a difference a week makes! After leaving Vision Expo East being assured that the “lead pipe lock” was on the change in ICD for this October, Congress finally got the message that health care providers are still a small aspect of the American health care scene. We were awarded yet another reprieve in total coding confusion for at least another year. This is, indeed, very good news.
Optometrists are now an essential part of the new health care system. It is incumbent on all of us to follow the changes in health care. If we have concerns, we need to make this known to our professional organizations and help them lobby our important issues.
I want to take this time to thank the American Optometric Association along with all the other health care provider organizations that put a stop to this disruptive change in health care. Long live ICD-9!