ICD-10 causes major headaches for hospitals

• The federal mandate expanding the number of diagnostic codes to 69,000 from today's 14,000 and procedure codes to 85,000 from 13,000 stresses healthcare providers. The mandate's intent, termed ICD-10, is to increase the accuracy of reporting and reduce fraud.
• Healthcare institutions face significant investments in training and IT system updates in order to comply with the new rules.
• The original conversion date was October 1, but the Senate passed a bill on Monday granting institutions a one-year reprieve.
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