As the October 1, 2105 ICD-10 deadline continues to hold firm, it’s important to know the facts about rumblings from Washington D.C. regarding the potential for ICD-10 delay.
Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), a long-time opponent of ICD-10 implementation, recently introduced legislation that would again delay the implementation deadline. While anything is possible in the nations capital, it does not appear that this latest bill has a viable path to pass into law.
In February, the House committee that controls healthcare legislation held a hearing on ICD-10 where the leadership from both political parties expressed their support for holding the ICD-10 deadline firm. A week later, the leading Republican and Democratic Senators on the Senate committee that controls healthcare policy also publicly expressed their support for adhearing to the current deadline.
While the American Medical Association (AMA) and other physician groups continue to voice concerns or opposition, it should be noted that these groups scored a major win last month with the passage of the SGR repeal and permanent “doc fix” bill, H.R. 2: The Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act of 2015. After expending much energy to score this legislative victory, these groups might not have the political capital needed to gain the needed Congressional support to further delay ICD-10.
Outside of Congress, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), who will implement and oversee the code changes, have maintained that they are ready for the transition.
So, as it stands now, the ICD-10 supporters outnumber and politically outweigh ICD-10 opponents. As we inch closer to October 1, opponents may continue to push hard for another delay. However, without a drastic change in the political winds, the current October 1, 2015 ICD-10 transition date appears to remain unchanged.
NextGen Healthcare will continue to monitor this issue and provide relevant updates as necessary. In the meantime, we urge clients to continue working hard to meet the transition deadline.
Need help getting ready for ICD-10? Learn about tools and resources from NextGen Healthcare to help.
- Visit the ICD-10 readiness page on Knowledge Exchange to access tools, resources and to sign up for:
- Attend weekly ICD-10 Forum webinar-Articles 10328620 and 10329875
- Bi-weekly ICD-10 File Maintenance Setup Webinar
- NextGen Biweekly ICD10 File Maintenance Setup Webinar
- 1-855-818-9814 conference code: 220 438 3326
- Email ASKICD10@nextgen.com and provide details as to the type of assistance requested:
- Application setup
- Claims testing
- Physician training
- Etc.
- Open Support ticket and provide same details as in above step