Various statewide California-based healthcare providers and payers have formed an ICD-10 Collaborative, aimed at helping reducing the time and costs associated with implementing the ICD-10 codeset. The collaborative, which is being headed by leaders from the Irvine, Calif.based healthcare IT consulting firm, Atrilogy Solutions Group, will look to raise awareness, share best practices, provide testing, and give support to smaller providers.

 “It’s a major achievement to have California’s healthcare providers and payers work collaboratively toward ICD-10 compliance,” Catherine Mesnik, director of finance for Orange, Calif.-based healthcare system, St. Joseph Health, which operates 14 acute care hospitals in California and Texas. “Although many of the members of the California ICD-10 Collaborative have internal teams to implement ICD-10, we are in agreement: the best and most cost-effective way for California health care providers and payers to successfully achieve ICD-10 compliance is by working together.”

According to Atrilogy, various organizations in the state have expressed interest in participating in the California ICD-10 Collaborative. This includes the California Hospital Association, California Health Information Association, California Medical Group Management Association and the Southern California Chapter of the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

 “As the California ICD-10 Collaborative evolves and expands as anticipated, we have an opportunity to become a trusted source of information for the healthcare industry," Mesnik said. "This will offer providers and payers nationally an additional implementation resource.”