We asked a group of experts – consultants and executives – for their advice on how to make the most of the ICD-10 postponement.

David J. Zetter, healthcare management consultant, founder with Zetter HealthCare:

"This basically gives all the practices a reprieve to get a plan together on how they are going to prepare for this transition" he says. "It is not time to put off working on a plan. The sooner your providers learn to document what is required for ICD-10, the sooner they can practice and be prepared in advance for October 2015. It is not necessarily learning the ICD-10 codes."

"It is learning how to document everything in a diagnosis code so that the code can be derived from the documentation, which is what the payers expect. It also gives you time to talk to your banker about a line of credit because this WILL affect your cash flow. You will be an anomaly if your cash flow is not affected."

Jim Daley, Chair, Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI):

"Physicians must decide how to use the additional time," Daley says. "They cannot count on continual delays, but some may hope this occurs. They will need to weigh the risk of potential non-compliance against the effort needed to move forward with implementation activities."

"Some items such as clinical documentation improvements may prove useful, regardless of when ICD-10 is implemented. With the additional time, providers will be able to conduct more extensive testing after installing necessary software upgrades. The additional time will provide physicians with an opportunity to better integrate ICD-10 implementation activities with other initiatives. Some of the information needed to support ICD-10 coding may prove useful in populating electronic health records and assessing quality of care."

Chris Zaenger, President of Z Management Group, Ltd. and a member of the National Society of Certified Healthcare Business Consultants:

Zaenger offers:

1. If you are in the ICD-10 training and transition mode – stay the course.

2. If you have not started learning the ICD -10 or calculating what you need to do to get ready – start.

3. Amass your ICD-9 code usage over the last two years and convert them to all the common permutation your practice encounters using websites like ICD10data.com and others.

4. Get the ICD-10 text and review it in staff meetings.

5. Set up end-to end testing with your clearinghouse and a key payor such as BCBS.

6. Attempt to do as much as possible ELECTRONICALLY...as 2015 is right around the corner and this will become a requirement.

Nate Seaman, AVP of Product Management at MedeAnalytics, a clinical analytics company:

"This delay came as a surprise and shocked the entire industry," Seaman says. "Only a few weeks before the delay, the Administrator of CMS said publicly there would be no delay in ICD-10, though obviously there were larger forces at play."

"One of the best things physicians can do is focus on training and documentation improvement efforts that improve ICD-9 coding today. Many of the concepts required to improve documentation in ICD-10 are equally relevant in ICD-9. Looking at case mix index and unspecified code usage compared to similar peers can uncover documentation issues that impact reimbursement and compliance in ICD-9 as well as ICD-10. Focusing on those issues now will bring financial benefit today and also help prepare for the transition."

Stephanie Kovalick, vice president of portfolio operations at Availity, an intermediary between payers and providers:

"We highly recommend physicians take advantage of the additional time to continue training staff and taking advantage of opportunities to test internal systems and to test with clearinghouses and health plans," Kovalick says. "We also encourage physicians to take advantage of dual-coding opportunities."

"Being able to code claims in both code sets and compare the results will provide extremely beneficial insights. One of the biggest fears among physicians is loss of revenue due to the code conversion. Dual coding will help identify areas that need attention, and give physicians time to address issues before the full migration in 2015."