Have physician practices started planning for the ICD-10 transition? Has any communication taken place between practices and their payors or vendors? Gain industry insight into how medical practices nationwide are approaching the ICD-10 transition. Over 900 medical professionals surveyed. For additional resources and information please visit: http://sites.mckesson.com/practiceconsulting/kc_coding.htm

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ICD-10 PREPARDNESS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ICD-10 PREPAREDNESS
When will practices start to prepare for the ICD-10 transition? Has any communication taken place
between practices and their vendors and payers? A survey sponsored by McKesson Practice
Consulting Solutions in July 2011 on Modern Medicine.com, showcased the pulse of what practices
across the nation are doing in regard to the ICD-10 transition. The survey results represent 921
respondents.
Key Area of Focus
1. Assess the current and future state of ICD-10 transition planning among medical practices
2. Determine the degree of vendor to practice communication about the ICD-10 migration
3. Determine the degree of payer to practice communication about the ICD-10 migration
Who Would Find the Results of Most Interest?
• Physicians
• Practice Managers
• Coding Managers
• Hospital executives with employed physicians
Respondent Profile
• Physicians
• Residents
• RN
• PAs
• Healthcare Professionals
• Nurse Practitioners
Top Findings
• A Majority of the groups intend to start planning in 12 months or more
• Sixteen percent of practices have the new ICD-10-CM draft code set
• Eighty percent of the groups have not heard from and are unaware of their vendor’s ICD-10
migration plan
• Eighty-one percent of respondents have not communicated with their payers
Copyright ©McKesson Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. All product or company names may be trademarks, service marks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
1

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ICD-10 PREPARDNESS
ICD-10 Preparation
 Majority of groups intend to start planning in 12 months or more.
With ICD-10 closing in, the ICD-10 transition will have a monumental impact on the healthcare
industry. Have practices started preparing for this significant change that will impact the clinical and
fiscal performance of a practice? A majority of respondents indicated their practices will start
preparing in 12 months or more. Twenty-four percent indicated a start time of 3 -6 months from
July. However, 21% also indicated that their practice had already started preparing for the ICD-10
transition.
Preparation
0 Months (already
started)
25% 21%
1-3 Months
15%
15%
24% 3-6 Months
9-12 Months
ICD-10-CM Draft Code Book
 16% of practices have the ICD-10-CM code set.
With the 5x increase in clinical modification (CM) codes from ICD-9, it is essential practices have
the official ICD-10-CM draft code book/set to properly train their coders and office team on the
new code set. Only 16% of physician practices have this book in their practice. Over half of the
respondents do not have this book in their practice.
ICD-10-CM Draft Code Book
28% 16%
Yes
56%
No
I don't know
Copyright ©McKesson Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. All product or company names may be trademarks, service marks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
2

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ICD-10 PREPARDNESS
Vendor Communication
 80% of groups have not heard from and are unaware of their vendors ICD-10 migration plan
Practices must understand their vendor’s ICD-10 migration plan. The transition is not as simple as a
flip of the switch by the vendor. Vendors and practices must communicate when the vendor will
start testing, what upgrades need to be implemented, and when the final migration to the new
system will occur. Forty-one percent of respondents were unaware of any communication from
their vendor, while 39% hadn’t heard from their vendor in regard to a migration plan.
Vendor Communication
20%
41%
Yes
No
39%
I don't know
Payer Communication
 81% of respondents have not communicated with their payers.
An assessment of how ICD-10 will affect payer contracts is vital to a smooth transition. Practices
and payers must be in sync with the implementation schedule. Eighty-one percent of survey
respondents have not communicated with their payers to discuss the full scope of the transition.
Payer Communication
19%
Yes
81% No
Copyright ©McKesson Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. All product or company names may be trademarks, service marks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
3

4. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ICD-10 PREPARDNESS
Summary
Survey results indicate practices aren’t fully prepared. Based on survey results, the urgency for ICD-
10 transition planning isn’t evident and will not become evident until the end of 2011 or early 2012.
A majority of survey respondents indicated that they did not have the official ICD-10-CM draft code
book in house, and most have not received or initiated communicated with their vendors or payers
in regard to the transition.
According to two advisory groups, the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communication
Alliance and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange, it is not too early to start preparing.
They estimated that the entire ICD-10 conversion process will take providers 966 days to complete
and therefore practices should have started the planning process on January 18, 2010. To date,
practices should have already conducted a readiness assessment of their Information Technology
systems and practice operations, as well as created a roadmap for a smooth and compliant ICD-10
transition process. Unfortunately, the consequences to delayed planning for training and testing
may result in higher claims rejections and a negative impact on a practice’s cash flow.
Methodology: The online survey, conducted by Modern Medicine and McKesson Practice Consulting Solutions was held
within the United States between July 1 and July 27, 2011. They survey sample size of 921 respondents (Physicians, PA’s,
Nurse Practitioners, Residents, Healthcare Professionals, Hospital Executives, Medical Support Staff, Registered Nurses)
who completed all the questions is comprised of blind individual responses.
McKesson
th
McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 14 on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology
company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and
improving the quality and safety patient care. Over the course of its 178-year history, McKesson has grown by providing
pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology
for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payers; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers
and payers designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit http://www.mckesson.com.
Modern Medicine
ModernMedicine brings together best-in-class content and tools from credible and trusted information sources and from a
leading group of advisors, consultant, and key opinion leaders to create a web community for health professionals.
ModernMedicine is an editorially neutral information resource; a diverse group of content affiliates that provide the tools
and information which populate over 65 resource centers on ModernMedicine—covering medical and surgical specialties,
the business of medicine, and education/learning programs. Visit: www.modernmedicine.com
Copyright ©McKesson Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. All product or company names may be trademarks, service marks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
4

5. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ICD-10 PREPARDNESS
For questions or to sign up for future research briefings, contact McKesson Practice Consulting
Solutions at 1.800.789.6409 or email consultinginfo@mckesson.com
McKesson Practice Consulting Solutions has been helping physicians for more than 20 years. Our
physician-focused consulting experts include MBAs, MHAs, CPAs, practice administrators,
compliance experts and certified coders. We also have specialists in managed care, practice
management and financial operations. Consultants work nationally with physicians across multiple
specialties. Our work is based on specific, measureable, attainable, relevant, time bound (SMART)
objectives for the highest measurable impact on strategic growth and enhanced practice
performance. Visit: www.mckesson.com/practiceconsulting
Copyright ©McKesson Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. All product or company names may be trademarks, service marks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
5