During the month of March, Congress is once again expected to debate a permanent fix to the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula for reimbursing physicians, and a delay in the ICD-10 implementation date could be a part of the discussion, just as it was a year ago when the delay to an October 1, 2015 compliance date was part of unrelated legislation.
As Congress was wrapping up its 2013 – 2014 session in December, members were being pressured by physicians to re-visit the scheduled ICD-10 implementation date and order a new two-year delay.
Representative Pete Sessions (R – Texas), chair of the House Rules Committee, and Representative Fred Upton (R – Michigan), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, have been meeting with various members of the medical community on both sides of the delay issue, and Representative Upton indicated a committee hearing would occur in early 2015 after speaking with a number of interested parties in the healthcare industry. They pledged to take a look at the country-wide state of ICD-10 preparedness and said, “It is our priority to ensure that we continue to move forward in healthcare technology and do so in a way that addresses the concerns of all of those affected and ensure that the system works.”
Congressional members voiced support for the current ICD-10 deadline of October 1, 2015 during a February meeting of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health; but Representative Michael Burgess, MD, (R – Texas) voiced concern as to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ readiness for the ICD-10 deadline. Six of seven testifying witnesses from the medical community agreed no more delays were necessary. Subcommittee chair Representative Joseph Pitts (R – Pennsylvania) stated, “We need to end the uncertainty . . . and move forward to full implementation of ICD-10.”
But that doesn’t mean the discussion is over, since re-visiting the Sustainable Growth Rate presents the opportunity to add amendments covering other issues, such as delaying ICD-10, into an S G R bill. So . . . stay tuned.