The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid have confirmed that, after a surprise delay in ICD-10 implementation, October 1, 2015 will be the new deadline for the medical codes to be put in place.
Some media reports observed that the language in CMS’ short statement on the issue indicates that it wants hospitals to use ICD-9 right up to the date set for the changeover. That’s disappointed providers that wanted to do a voluntary rollout.
A survey by Part B News last month showed that three-quarters of providers did not plan to change their schedule to prepare for the new codes, even though they will have at least one extra year to prepare, according to EHR Intelligence.
Industry groups have voiced concern about the cost of delayed implementation of ICD-10 which has been put off several times but had been scheduled to go into effect this year.
Humana ICD-10 program manager Sid Hebert recently shared his frustration on the issue at WEDI’s emergency ICD-10 summit and expressed concern that large payers will shelve the project and reintroduce it six months before it goes into effect. “What will suffer is the testing.”
Among the unintended consequences cited by Government IT were testing and increased spending to support both ICD-9 and ICD-10 coding systems.
