There will most certainly be a significant shift in the revenue cycle management of many physician practices, hospitals and other care organizations, because of the impact of the new ICD-10 codes and the DRGs that are associated with them.
The amount of detail that the ICD-10 codes contain will certainly allow a great deal more accuracy in the reimbursement rates of “cost to serve” individual patients. If an organization is unprepared for the inevitable change, then it will certainly be at a severe disadvantage when it comes to contract renegotiation.
There will be much more preparation required under the new ICD-10 codes than ever before. Organizations will need a much better understanding of both the projected and current volumes of patients under the new codes. They will also need to gather much more detailed information about how much the service of patients that are classified under ICD-10 actually costs.