As we approach the ICD-10 transition deadline on October 1, 2014, members from all corners of the healthcare industry are busily preparing and testing for the upcoming roll out. From a technical perspective, this means that systems must be updated to accommodate transferring the new codes.

No small undertaking, this has been compared to the changes required to update legacy computer systems to be compatible with Y2K date formats. Likewise, physicians and other healthcare professionals who use these codes and have memorized their most frequently used ICD-9 codes will need become familiar with the expanded code set.