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I think you hit it on the mark; organizations that are used to doing data analytics are saying, perhaps this might be another tool in the tool belt around data analytics, yes. But what it really does is that it creates a bit of a game-changer in terms of what insurers can do around data; it will allow our largest insurer, the government, to understand what the highest-volume diagnoses are; it will allow a certain amount more of granularity with regard to procedures. So I think it will provide on a macro level a greater ability to do data analytics, and it will be a game-changer for CMS and other large insurers, to better understand where their dollars are going.
What would your advice be to other CIOs and CMIOs right now?
It goes back to the ‘get started’ talk. You’ve got to get started; because even the AMA were successful—and I can’t imagine they would be—in getting the date changed [referring here to the American Medical Association’s petitioning the federal government to delay the Oct. 1, 2013 required transition date], people have got to get going on this. So I don’t see the U.S. government changing their requirements at all. To a certain extent, this is an ‘aha’ moment, and some people get cold feet at that moment. But unless there’s the pressure of the deadline, things don’t happen. Of course, there are a lot of things being thrown at us at the same time, and it’s a lot of changes to deal with. And certainly, on a micro level, my colleagues and friends the doctors, feel as though this is yet another thing added to their to-do lists. But we want to give them the tools to make them more successful in their practice, and ease them into this. And you’ll see, as we draw closer to 2013, that computer-assisted coding technologies and products will become more and more prevalent.
