You can uncross your fingers, CMS will not delay ICD-10 again, despite up to 25% of providers claiming to believe CMS will issue a last-minute hold. The persistent belief in a delay is being bolstered by a recent push by the AMA to lobby Congress for a two-year delay on enforcing ICD-10 coding errors.
 
But during a July 15 meeting, CMS made it absolutely clear that nothing short of a planetary cataclysm would delay ICD-10, according to a webcast by ICD10Monitor.
 
“CMS hammered on the fact that the date will not change,” said Stanley Nachimson, a health IT consultant who attended the meeting, speaking on the webcast. What’s more, the agency is doubling down on its ICD-10 outreach and education efforts, and will go so far as to involve “major media outlets” and medical associations including the American Nurses Association and the World Health Organization.
 
Nachimson, who is a CMS technology expert, will speak at the Physician Practice ICD-10 Readiness Summit in Las Vegas this fall.
 
If your practice needs an affordable plan to be ready for ICD-10, now barely a year away, check out the summit’s agenda and speakers here.