ICD-10 Delayed One Year
- By admin aapc
- In ICD-10
- April 9, 2012
- Comments Off on ICD-10 Delayed One Year
Please see the following announcement from CMS:
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced a proposed rule that would establish a unique health plan identifier under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The proposed rule would implement several administrative simplification provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
The proposed changes would save health care providers and health plans up to $4.6 billion over the next ten years, according to estimates released by the HHS today. The estimates were included in a proposed rule that cuts red tape and simplifies administrative processes for doctors, hospitals and health insurance plans.
“The new health care law is cutting red tape, making our health care system more efficient and saving money,” Secretary Sebelius said. “These important simplifications will mean doctors can spend less time filling out forms and more time seeing patients.”
Currently, when health plans and entities like third party administrators bill providers, they are identified using a wide range of different identifiers that do not have a standard length or format. As a result, health care providers run into a number of time-consuming problems, such as misrouting of transactions, rejection of transactions due to insurance identification errors, and difficulty determining patient eligibility.
The rule simplifies the administrative process for providers by proposing that health plans have a unique identifier of a standard length and format to facilitate routine use in computer systems. This will allow provider offices to automate and simplify their processes, particularly when processing bills and other transactions.
The proposed rule also delays required compliance by one year– from Oct. 1, 2013, to Oct. 1, 2014– for new codes used to classify diseases and health problems. These codes, known as the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition diagnosis and procedure codes, or ICD-10, will include new procedures and diagnoses and improve the quality of information available for quality improvement and payment purposes.
Many provider groups have expressed serious concerns about their ability to meet the Oct. 1, 2013, compliance date. The proposed change in the compliance date for ICD-10 would give providers and other covered entities more time to prepare and fully test their systems to ensure a smooth and coordinated transition to these new code sets.
The proposed rule announced today is the third in a series of administrative simplification rules in the new health care law. HHS released the first in July of 2011 and the second in January of 2012, and plans to announce more in the coming months.
More information on the proposed rule is available on fact sheets (4/9/12) at http://www.cms.gov/apps/media/fact_sheets.asp.
The proposed rule may be viewed at www.ofr.gov/inspection.aspx. Comments are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
- Correctly Identify Low Back Pain - March 1, 2023
- How to Optimize the RCM Process - February 1, 2023
- It Pays to Participate in AAPC’s Annual Salary Survey - September 1, 2022
800-626-2633
We were just discussing this…wow!! Did you know this changed? Interesting…
Barb
It was delayed before and it’s going to keep being delayed and by that time ICD-12 will be in place in other countries
Is the “freeze” still in effect for the ICD 9 updates?
It has happened as expected. No surprises! Yes, most of the healthcare service providers, covered entities and business associates are not completely ready to take.. and the concern raised through providers.
We should thank CMS
Good , thats fine
This is not the first time ICD-10 has been delayed. I have said for 8+ years I will believe it when I see it.
ICD-10 has not yet been delayed – this is a PROPOSED rule – this is not a FINAL decision. The proposed rule will publish in the Federal Register on April 17th – comments will be received for 30 days from this date – a final ruling will not be published until late summer or fall at the earliest.
Thank you, Laura Bushong, for educating all of us who are not in full understanding of “Proposed Rule” vs a Final Rule!
Also, thank you for including the publication date of this Proposed Rule in the Federal Register. I would like to encourage all interested parties to submit comments to the address that will be listed in the April 17th Federal Register.
I am sad to see that the United States has openly admitted that we are unable to implement a coding system that 3rd world countries have been using for years.
Will the ICD 10 training seminar given by the AAPC we have signed up for still be held? Will they be delayed or rescheduled? I am scheduled to attend one in August. Do I really want to attend a class on something that will not happen until an undetermined date in the future? Will the AAPC refund my money?
I agree the majority of our providers and staff do need additional time to fully understand and prepare. But I do believe this change is needed for accurate coding. So glad I am part of AAPC and thank the CMS for this delay.
This article says it’s a “proposed rule”. When will it go from being “proposed” to being real? I’m not sure I think this is a good thing as it just prolongs the misery so to speak.
I agree with Jody, this is just a “PROPOSED RULE” there is nothing saying it will be delay for sure. My company is going full steam ahead with training and being ready for 2013 or 2014.
Also we are going thru conversion to AEHR, so I think bring the new system to work out the bugs should include the new code set so everything is learn and fixed at once.
If you read between the lines, you’ll note that ICD-10 implementation has become no more than a political bargaining chip. It would be more honest if the final rule changed the release date to “when pigs fly.”