“Even if you start today, you are already late.”

Imagine that?

The quote is excerpted from a statement made by a senior analyst with the — well, I will identify him shortly.

But, first things being first. In this periodic series ‘Obama-care Mindlessness’ - that includes repeating the opening quote: “Even if you start today, you are already late.”

On Oct. 1, 2013 — that’s 11 months after the 2012 election — a “significant change is set to occur” in U.S. health care: Mindless Obama-care driven Federal bureaucrats will implement a new “set of codes for reporting diagnoses and procedures to payers.” 

The new code set, called ICD-10, will increase the “number of reporting codes from about 13,600 to about 69,000.”

Yes, you read the numbers right. That’s a 5X multiple. 

At present, the initial script being used to sell the abomination, known mostly to insiders in the government and health-care industry, includes “increased ability to track and trend diseases, more accurate coding, codes that reflect advances in technology, support of innovative payment designs, better utilization and quality management.” Yeah, right. Better? Baloney.

Sure, more data and more detail can be helpful in whatever the endeavor. For example, when properly used (read, ‘not for nefarious purposes’), data collection is consistent with the basics of quality management as developed and taught by American W. Edwards Deming.

But, as almost all thoughtful people understand, there is always an investment cost in collecting data. And the return in value must be clearly measurable in objectively quantifiable ways in order to proceed.

Implementing ICD-10 as well as overall Obama-care – is not.

Dr. Deming, the father of the quality movement, would see through the federal machinations. Deming would focus on the true Obama objective: To dramatically increase federal control of the American health care industry.

Of course, when the public learns about the implications of ICD-10 during the brouhaha likely to follow, someone, somehow will rationalize this dramatic increase in reporting detail as part of a Obama jobs-creating measure.

That’s especially likely if the brouhaha occurs during the run-up to Election Day 2012. In any case, the heads-up provided here is that the federal leviathan is moving full speed ahead to implement centralized control of all health care.

And, the insurance industry, almost uniformly, is going along for the ride — with meters running. Ditto almost all hospitals, nursing homes, etc., whether private or public, organized as profit, non-profit and not-for-profit. Ditto, too, almost but not quite all general practice physicians, specialists, et al.

What is happening to medical professionals and practices, clinics, hospitals, et al? That brings us back to the opening quote, which was made by John Dingle, a senior health systems engineering analyst with the Mayo Clinic.

Dingle, during a briefing to medical professionals and others in August 2011 advised participants: “If you haven’t already started planning, you need to clearly understand the (ICD-10) regulations and what you are being asked to do.”

In reality, it’s what America’s doctors are being told to do by federal bureaucrats on their mindless mission to implement Obama-care.

Medical industry consultant William Blair Co. states that “A midsized physician practice could incur as much as $300,000 in hard costs to adopt ICD-10; (and that)  total may increase to almost $3 million for a large group.”

Truth Shot No. 1 is: Those financial costs will be passed on directly to fee-paying patients as well as indirectly to insurance companies along with their premium-paying customers and, ultimately, American taxpayers — that’s you.

The Blair Co. also notes that in every instance: Medical “practices may be in for significant practice disruption for the first three to six months of adoption,” and, thereafter, each practice will have to “sustain-ably endure at least a 15 percent increase in documentation time.”

Truth Shot No. 2: The costs imposed by the federal government will:

Impact the promptness and the quality of patient care by doctors; and the level and quality of patient service by medical office, clinic and hospital staff. 

Again, the costs of Obama-care will be passed on to patients, insurance providers and American taxpayers.

In the face of all this, during the August 2011 briefing, John Dingle urged participants to: “Bear down and plan well.”

Yet, it is Dingle’s opening quote that sagely describes, not just the ICD-10 changes, but the way the current incumbent federal administration operates with everything:

“Even if you start today, you are already late.”

AUTHOR NOTE: Obama-care Mindlessness and Shredding the Constitution series will continue periodically.

Richard Olivastro is president of Olivastro Communications. Rich Olivastro@ gmail.com or by phone at 1-877-RichSpeaks.