Coalition for ICD-10 Calls on HHS to Set New ICD-10 Implementation Date
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) April 15, 2014 -- The Coalition for ICD-10, a broad-based healthcare industry advocacy group, today called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish October 1, 2015 as the new ICD-10 implementation date. In a letter to CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner, the Coalition noted that the third delay of ICD-10 adoption, resulting from Congressional passage of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, has caused great uncertainty across the healthcare industry about the future of the ICD-10 coding standard.
“We urge that this delay not extend past October 2015, and that HHS announce October 1, 2015 as the new implementation date for ICD-10 as soon as possible,” the letter stated. “The delay is going to be disruptive and costly for health care delivery innovation, payment reform, public health, and health care spending, and uncertainty on the implementation date only adds to the disruption and cost.”
Noting the enormous amount of time, effort and resources that have been expended by its members in preparing for the transition to ICD-10, the Coalition declared its intent to work with HHS and its various agencies to ensure a smooth transition on October 1, 2015. In particular, the letter expressed the Coalition’s willingness to “work with CMS to identify measurable milestones on the path toward implementation to demonstrate that preparatory work is proceeding smoothly toward successful implementation.”
The Coalition for ICD-10 is an alliance of hospitals, health plans, professional associations, hospital and physician office coding experts, vendors and the health information technology (HIT) community united in support of U.S. adoption of the ICD-10 coding standard. The Coalition for ICD-10 promotes the critical importance of ICD-10 to improving quality measurement, public health surveillance, clinical research, and healthcare payment through research, education, advocacy, and mobilization.
The ICD-10 coding standard is a long-overdue improvement to the current ICD-9 coding system. Used for reporting diagnoses by all healthcare providers and for hospital reporting of inpatient procedures, ICD-10 allows for more specific and accurate representation of current and future medical diagnoses and procedures than is possible with the 30-year-old ICD-9 codes.
Visit the Coalition for ICD-10 website to learn more.
Mollie Houns, (952) 920-6951, [email protected]
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