Study: Information loss will occur as a result of the switch to ICD-10

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) have found that the switch to ICD-10 will result in information loss, which they deem will be significant.

This scientific result blows up the myth that the switch to ICD-10 will uniformly result in better and more information because of an increase in diagnostic precision (which is called "specificity" by proponents of the switch).

The researchers studied hematology and oncology ICD codes, which proponents of the switch have identified as the specialty that will be least affected by the switch.  The information loss affected 8% of total Medicaid codes and 1% of University of Illinois Cancer Center (UICC) codes, affected 2.9% of all Medicaid claims and 5.3% of UICC billing charges.

Although these numbers are seemingly small, according to the researchers, this level of information loss has the potential to "evaporate" the operating margin of a hematology/oncology practice.

So the medical specialty least affected by the switch could see its operating margins evaporate overnight from September 30 to October 1, 2014?

We should not switch to ICD-10.