Just in case you were thinking CMS might push back the ICD-10 “go live” date a second time, the answer to that is a resounding “No” confirmed Denise Buenning, the CMS official in charge of the whole operation.
Speaking yesterday [weds] at the annual AHIMA ICD-10 Symposium in Baltimore, Buenning averred that “I have absolutely no reason to believe the deadline will move again, and here’s why: The industry has invested billions” to implement the ICD-10 code set. “It would be problematic to delay it again – the [HHS] secretary recognizes that, the [CMS] acting administrator recognizes that,” she said, to widespread applause from the assembled coders, payers and hospital administrators.
CMS in 2012 caved to physician pressure and postponed the U.S. ICD-10 implementation date a year from Oct. 1 this year to Oct. 1, 2014. That date remains firm, Buenning said.
She is concerned that many physicians still aren’t making much progress toward ICD-10 implementation, though. “We are taking steps to address this,” that may even include “feet on the ground” to visit practices in rural areas that may be resistant to the code changeover. “For them, this is not a big priority, though it should be – it will affect their claims getting paid.”
The agency is considering strategies to “mitigate the risk” of physician non-compliance, Buenning said, but she declined to elaborate on what those might be.