ICD-10 Delay! Congress votes tomorrow (Thursday)
Heads up everyone! THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT!!!! Did you know that Congress is voting on a bill tomorrow that includes requesting a 12-month delay to the implementation of ICD-10? So, if it goes through, ICD-10 will not be adopted until 10/01/2015 despite confirmation from CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner during the HIMSS Conference in Orlando, Florida, that CMS and HHS would not consider any further delays in the ICD-10 transition beyond Oct. 1 of this year.! AHIMA has put out a call to members and other stakeholders to contact their representatives in Congress and ask them to take the ICD-10 provision out of the SGR bill. The ICD-10 provision is a seven line section in the bill in section 212 (page 19 of the bill). Here is the wording: SEC. 212. DELAY IN TRANSITION FROM ICD-9 TO ICD-10 CODE SETS. Here is the link of the bill: http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20140324/BILLS-113hrSGR-sus.pdf
So, if you're interested in voicing your objection to the proposed delay and
don't know where to start or how to do it here is some information for you.
You can find out the contact information for your representative here: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ Here is a suggested phone script that you can use: Just thought you'd like to know!
The Secretary of Health and Human Services may not, prior to October 1, 2015,
adopt ICD-10 code sets as the standard for code sets under section 1173(c) of
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320-2(c)) and section 162.1002 of title
45, Code of Federal Regulations.
"Hello Representative XX/Senator XX, my name is XXX and I am a concerned
member in your district, as well as a healthcare professional. I am calling
to voice my opposition to the language in the SGR patch that would delay ICD-10
implementation until October, 2015. CMS estimates that a 1 year delay could
cost between $1 billion to $6.6 billion. This is approximately 10-30% of what
has already been invested by providers, payers, vendors and academic programs
in your district. Without ICD-10, the return on investment in EHRs and health
data exchange will be greatly diminished. I urge you, Representative XX/ Senator
XX to oppose the ICD-10 delay and let Speaker Boehner and Senate Majority Leader
Reid know that a delay in ICD-10 will substantially increase total implementation
costs in your district as well as delay the positive impact for patient care."
Source: AHIMA