Wolters Kluwer Health, US, has announced that its ProVation Medical procedure documentation and coding software allows users to transition to the new ICD-10 code set with minimal expense, training or disruption of workflow. The product, which is seen to answer the call for healthcare technology vendors to play a proactive role in the switch to ICD-10, is claimed to be ready to accommodate the expanded code sets. Also, its implementation and training teams are prepared to support client organisations throughout the transition process.
After originally proposing a 2011 deadline, the US' Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has set a 2013 compliance deadline for the adoption of ICD-10 by domestic healthcare organisations. Despite the two-year reprieve, healthcare organisations are already putting together their transition budgets and plans, a critical element of which is working with their technology vendors to ensure software and systems are ready for the switch.
According to a recent survey by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, 55 percent of hospital CIOs said they expected vendor readiness and cooperation to be one of the top hurdles in achieving ICD-10 compliance. Yet, 72 percent did not know if their vendors would include ICD-10 in annual software upgrades, and 60 percent said their vendors had not alerted them to implementation timelines.
ProVation seeks to replace dictation/transcription and streamline the coding and billing process. With deep medical content, it allows clinicians to quickly and completely document medical procedures and apply the appropriate CPT and ICD codes, as well as CCI edits, according to the company. ProVation is currently used by thousands of clinicians at more than 600 hospitals and ambulatory surgery centres, in specialties including cardiology, ENT, gastroenterology, general surgery, gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pain management, plastic surgery, pulmonology and urology.
