ICD-10 Costs Higher than Previously Estimated, AMA Report Finds

Implementing the new ICD-10 procedural and diagnostic codes, which the CMS says must happen by Oct. 1, will be more expensive than previously estimated, according to new research. But costs will vary widely depending on practice circumstances.

The American Medical Association-funded report was written by consultants Carolyn Hartley, president and CEO of the Physicans EHR, and Stanley Nachimson, principal for Nachimson Advisors. The report updates Nachimson's widely quoted 2008 estimates, which the new report acknowledges were calculated when “no actual implementation experience existed” and before the health information technology industry received an infusion of billions of dollars from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.

In 2008, Nachimson estimated ICD-10 implementation costs at $83,290 for small practices, $285,195 for medium-sized practices and more than $2.7 million for large ones.

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Source: Modern Healthcare