Prep For ICD-10 Billing Code Explosion Should Begin Now – HHS
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is pressing insurers to start planning now for an almost ten-fold increase in the number of reimbursement billing codes, which the government says should be fully adopted by 2011
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ICD-10 date delay
The expansive ICD-10 coding system will be adopted in the U.S. for health care billing on Oct. 1, 2013, under a final rule released by the Department of Health and Human Services Jan. 15. The regulation delays the transition from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10 by two years from what HHS had proposed in a draft rule issued in August (1"The Gray Sheet" Aug. 25, 2008, p. 12). Device makers and some hospital groups had pushed for the 2011 adoption date for what will be an almost ten-fold increase in the number of reimbursement codes. They and CMS point out that available codes under the current system are running out, which hinders payers' ability to appropriately pay for and monitor new medical procedures and technologies. But arguments from private insurers and state Medicaid programs won out. They warned that the 2011 implementation date was too soon for a smooth transition and could lead to a major breakdown in the insurance claims process (2"The Gray Sheet" Oct. 27, 2008, p. 17)
ICD-10 date delay
The expansive ICD-10 coding system will be adopted in the U.S. for health care billing on Oct. 1, 2013, under a final rule released by the Department of Health and Human Services Jan. 15. The regulation delays the transition from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10 by two years from what HHS had proposed in a draft rule issued in August (1"The Gray Sheet" Aug. 25, 2008, p. 12). Device makers and some hospital groups had pushed for the 2011 adoption date for what will be an almost ten-fold increase in the number of reimbursement codes. They and CMS point out that available codes under the current system are running out, which hinders payers' ability to appropriately pay for and monitor new medical procedures and technologies. But arguments from private insurers and state Medicaid programs won out. They warned that the 2011 implementation date was too soon for a smooth transition and could lead to a major breakdown in the insurance claims process (2"The Gray Sheet" Oct. 27, 2008, p. 17)
Costs Are Central To Arguments For And Against Accelerated ICD-10 Adoption
Device firms and others who support accelerated adoption of a greatly expanded health care billing code system, and payers who warn against moving too fast, each are invoking hot-button economic and health reform issues to make their case