ICD-10's impact on staffing

The May 2011 "HIMSS VANTAGE Point Survey" showed that 33% of respondents felt the greatest challenge their organizations face in converting to ICD-10 is the lack of staffing resources, especially clinical coders. Identified as one of the top five "gotchas" of ICD-10 implementation, coder concerns have grown beyond health information-management (HIM) directors and garnered significant attention within executive suites. AHIMA conducted an informal survey of association members in 2011 regarding coding priorities. Only 49% of respondents told AHIMA that their departments were fully staffed. The biggest problem was a lack of qualified candidates. As the 2013 deadline approaches, they expect coder shortages to worsen.