Yes, as of this writing, the ICD-10 compliance deadline has been proposed for a delay to Oct. 1, 2014.

With that in mind, we have devoted an entire section of our website to ICD-10 knowledge for physicians, practice managers and anyone else who needs a clear picture of what it takes to manage the leap from some 13,000 to about 68,000 diagnosis codes.

As the year goes on, we will add updates to the section and let you know about each one. If you have questions that aren’t reflected in the FAQs, please comment here and we’ll get your answers.

If you’re one of the more than 850 doctors, practice managers, nurses, executives and others already registered for our 2012 User Conference, we have a jam-packed schedule waiting for you and your colleagues starting Sunday in Boston.

And if you haven’t yet signed up, but would still like to attend, you’ll be happy to know that registration remains open.

We will present over 50 different sessions on everything from what’s happening with EMRs, Meaningful Use and health information technology on Capitol Hill, to how to maximize schedule density at your medical practice.

Not only will Abraham Verghese, MD—renowned physician and author of bestselling novel “Cutting for Stone”—be here in Boston to deliver the keynote address, but the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Farzad Mostashari, MD, will speak as well. 

Doctors can enroll in CME courses and everyone has a chance to win big—for charity, of course—at our exciting Casino Night. We’ll have a hall set up just for sponsors and exhibitors and rooms dedicated to product demo presentations throughout each day.

athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush will outline our strategy for 2012 … and you’ll go home knowing why care coordination represents an important opportunity in your community, whether you are a smaller practice or a large health care system.

Finally, some of you are going to win some great awards for supporting athenahealth’s mission of making health care work as it should.

You can still sign up for the User Conference. And if you can’t make it this year, we’ll report out on the blog, on Twitter with hashtag #athenahealthUC and via other social media channels.

At athenahealth, we get out to client practices as often as possible to gather their stories, see how we’ve helped them, and develop case studies and video testimonials to share with you. Just last week we flew down to Charlotte to visit an infectious disease clinic just outside the city and an anesthesia practice near downtown.

In a few weeks we’ll share videos and case studies from those visits that illustrate how these practices have improved clinical and business performance with our cloud-based services.

Here’s a good example: In October, right after the MGMA conference concluded in Las Vegas, we went up to Evergreen Family Medicine in Roseburg, Oregon. Evergreen is a thriving practice that was able to quickly achieve Meaningful Use with our EMR.

Here’s their story…

To mark our entry into 2012, we asked the growing roster of athenahealth blog contributors to come up with some resolutions, wishes and desires for the year ahead. Here is the result. Have a Happy New Year!

Allen L. Gee, MD, PhD, FAAN (athenahealth client)

I resolve to more fully understand and utilize my high-tech tools and gadgets (at least as well as my elementary school-age children) to further enhance my practice performance and share these insights with my colleagues.

Atif Aleemi, VP, Government Solutions

In 2012, I resolve to help the government understand the benefits of cloud-based services for health care. There is no longer a need to spend millions, wait for years, and then abandon the project because what was envisioned originally no longer meets the requirements. Government can unleash the power of the cloud by challenging industry to deliver services running on intelligent networks that are self-learning and constantly improving.

Dan Orenstein, SVP and General Counsel

I respect my attorney colleagues, but wow, can they focus on the negative sometimes. I resolve to help them see the positives in cloud-based services for health care, such as better data analysis, accuracy, security and economies of scale. I also resolve to think and engage in dialogue on how our health regulatory system can better accommodate and encourage innovation in health information exchange and care delivery.

Evan Grossman, VP, Product Strategy

For 2012, we resolve to continue to make electronic medical records a positive force for improved patient safety. We resolve to ensure our physicians are aware of and receive all of the Pay-for-Performance funds they’re entitled to. We resolve to stay on top of the emerging trends in risk-based reimbursement so that our clients can continue to focus on providing the best health care possible…

Jenn Marshall, Director of Transaction Services

Our resolution is to migrate all of our EDI transactions to 5010 as seamlessly and with the least amount of disruption as possible. We are committed to getting our providers over the finish line and have a team, nay, an army of people ready to spring into action as duty calls.

Lauren H. Fifield, Senior Policy Advisor

In 2012, I resolve to be a better consumer of HIT myself; to bring innovative, disruptive health care solutions to policy discussions in DC and beyond; and to represent our most forward-thinking, long-term, boldest visions for health care.

Ryan Champlin, VP for Operations, Cook Children’s Health Care System (athenahealth client)

2012 will be the year in which connected, transparent data begins to produce the improvements in health care that we all know can be achieved. These improvements will be through provider collaboration, not via external edict – and this collaboration is only possible through a cloud-based service. So my resolution in 2012 is to seize the opportunity to grow the universe of contributors to the shared endeavor that is athenahealth, because the cause is worthy!

Sheila Wiese, VP, Client Development

I resolve to help our client-facing teams of Account Managers and Client Support Center representatives stay on top of the emerging trends and new payment programs so they can help guide clients through the maze; I also resolve to advocate for changes in our products and services that will make the athenahealth experience more “beautiful” for our customers.   

Todd Haedrich, Director of Enrollment Services and Banking Operations

We resolve to continue to find opportunities to do more work for our clients, bring more transparency to the Pay-for-Performance landscape and simplify the complex processes required for our clients to receive the funds they are entitled to – helping providers get paid better and faster.

Jonathan Bush, CEO & President

I want so many things but life is about choices so I choose this:

I want every soul in the larger athenahealth community to feel connected! I want our growing network of doctors and staffers who support them to feel connected to each other. I want them to know how they are doing at something they care about as a result of that connection…and to make informed choices in their lives accordingly. I want our staff to feel connected to the good work of our clients. I want more of them to “know what it’s like out there” but also I want them to know numbers/metrics that matter to the caregivers we serve and I want them to WILL them in the right direction. I want them to not be able to help it. I want “playing for our team to win” to apply to our providers as much as it does to the colleagues at our shoulders.

Yep, I think that’s it.  If we get there, a market for what health care needs will start to emerge.

People who don’t regularly find themselves in houses of worship will often turn to prayer when facing dire circumstances like, say, jungle combat or the inside of a jail cell.

Now a recent article in Modern Healthcare references a study by KLAS on preparation among medical providers for the looming January 1 conversion to ANSI 5010—and it turns out some of those providers have lately found religion.

The KLAS survey of 800 office-based providers found not only that a majority has not bothered to prepare but that providers are putting their faith in claims clearinghouses to do all the work required for the transition. The report found what a substance abuse counselor might describe as instances of “denial” among caregivers.

According to one such provider quoted in the piece, “I’m honestly trying to pretend that 5010 changes are not going to occur… I pray that (our clearinghouse) will be able to deal with the changes. Because of what they are telling me, I think they will. I hope they have been telling me the truth.”

It’s not like ANSI 5010 should be a surprise. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) have been diligent about waving the warning flags. Just last week, the agency released a notice that “The compliance deadline for the transition to Version 5010 is only two weeks away!” It was accompanied by a reminder that there’s now an “enforcement discretionary period” out to April 1, as well as links to updated fact sheets, webpages and other resources.

And then on Dec. 19, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) acknowledged all this and asked for a six-month contingency plan so that medical practices are not negatively impacted in early 2012. They used some strong language backed up with hard facts.

So what’s the point?

If you’re an athenahealth client, a lot of this is irrelevant because we’ve got you covered. You may recall a blog post from October about how “… thanks to our cloud-based model, 100% of our clients are already using a 5010-compliant version of our practice management services that we updated at no additional cost.”

So since the praying contingent among our clients can reserve their spiritual energies for causes other than ANSI 5010, we thought now might be a good time to share some fun facts we’ve gathered in the course of our work on the transition.

 For our top 100 payers:

• Only 32% of our claim volume was available for 5010 conversion prior to Q4, due to lagging payer and vendor timelines. Despite this delay, we’re now at over 60% 5010 claim submission and expect to close the year above 85%.
• Production testing is available for 73% of this volume. This is the gold standard of testing—sending real claims for real adjudication before flipping all volume live. By sending small volumes of production 5010 claims before converting it all, we’ve found and resolved production issues with many payers prior to go-live. This spares our providers literally tens of thousands of claim rejections and denials.
• While the CMS grace period protects providers from being fined for non-compliance, we think that a lack of payment in 2012 would be an even more distressing financial penalty.  Many payers (Medicare included) will not accept 4010 claims after December 31, 2011, so timely conversion is critical.

There it is. We are ready. Our clients are ready. And if you’re a physician who lives in a state of denial about ANSI 5010, maybe it’s time you talk to someone instead. In the meantime, check out this on-demand webinar about ANSI 5010 and this recent ICD-10 webinar. Just know you are not alone and it doesn’t have to be so bad.