Medical Billing Blog

CMS Administrator: No Delays for ICD-10

Posted by Scott Shatzman on Fri, Feb, 28, 2014 @ 10:02 AM

icd 10 readyThere will be no more delays to the October 1 deadline to implement the International Classification of Diseases-10th revision (ICD-10) coding system.

That was the message from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner during Thursday’s keynote presentation to the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2014 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida.

Denesecia Green, lead for the enterprise e-health operations and governance administrative simplification group in the CMS Office of E-Health Standards and Services said, “what we need to do as a health care industry--payers, clearinghouses, vendors, and the like--is to really come together around this initiative. If we can come together, we can make this successful and also reap the benefits of ICD-10." At a CMS Town Hall session earlier in the week, Robert Tagalicod, director of the Office of E-Health Standards and Services, emphatically stated that the October 1 ICD-10 date "is a firm one."

In addressing the ICD-10 implementation timeline, Tavenner says, “Let’s face it, we have delayed this more than once, and it is time to move on. We have already delayed the adoption standard, a standard the rest of the world has adopted many years ago, and we have delayed it several times, most recently last year. There will be no change in the deadline for ICD-10.”

Earlier this month, the American Medical Association (AMA) petitioned CMS for a delay in ICD-10, due to financial and administrative costs that they say medical practices aren’t ready for. According to the AMA, small practices can expect costs ranging from $56,639 to $226,105 to implement ICD-10. According to a February survey by the Medical Management Group Association, 79% of physicians report that they haven’t begun ICD-10 implementation, or were only “somewhat ready.”

According to the announcement, providers that "represent a broad cross-section of provider types, claims types and submitter types" will submit test claims to CMS with ICD-10 codes and receive remittance advice explaining the adjudication of the claims. In addition, from March 3-7, CMS will offer ICD-10 acknowledgement testing. This front-end testing will allow all providers, billing companies, and clearinghouses the opportunity to determine whether CMS will be able to accept their claims with ICD-10 codes.