Apr 7, 2015

This time last year, the healthcare industry was gearing up for ICD-10 implementation in October. Fast-forward twelve months … and the healthcare industry is gearing up for ICD-10 implementation in October. As the late, great Yogi Berra once remarked, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

At press time, all systems seem a go for an October implementation, with a few expected hang-ups along the way. A March 4 statement from the American Medical Association (and 99 state and specialty societies) expressed concern that “there are not sufficient contingency plans in place to avoid anticipated failures that could result in a significant, multibillion-dollar disruption for physicians and serious access to care issues for Medicare patients.”

However, Scott Mertie, CHFP, CMPE, president of Kraft Healthcare Consulting, noted that during the March 9-10 Leadership Healthcare Delegation to D.C., the possibility of another delay was dismissed by the Washington thought leaders and policymakers. Presenters expressed confidence that hospitals and CMS were prepared for the transition but did discuss the possibility of a brief phase-in period under which both ICD-9 and ICD-10 would be accepted.

Local experts like Lori Nobles, RHIA, CHTS-IM, CPHIMS, principal at Cumberland Consulting Group, said a slight chance of deadline extension still looms, reviving the prudent yet lesser known saying, “Fourth time’s a charm.” In the 2009 final rule, implementation was delayed from the proposed date of October 2011 until October 2013. In September 2012, HHS issued a one-year delay, changing the final compliance date to October 2014. In March 2014, Congress voted to delay ICD-10 again. Oct. 1, 2015 was then set as the new implementation date.

Read the full article in Nashville Medical News.

Filed under: In The News