ICD 10 code implementation is now delayed until October of 2015.
On April 1, President Obama signed a bill into law that will have a dramatic effect on the world of HCC coding. The new law, known as the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, contains numerous provisions designed to address reimbursement funding issues with Medicare. Had the bill not been passed, reimbursement rates would have been cut 24 percent in 2014.
In 1997, Congress set up a sustainable growth rate formula for Medicare, which was designed to tie increases in Medicare budgets to the health of the economy. However, health care costs rose more quickly than the economy grew, and Medicare soon faced a multi-billion dollar funding gap. To prevent cutting services and reimbursements, Congress has repeatedly passed “doc fix” bills to allocate more money to Medicare each year. The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 was the latest of 17 such bills.
In addition to appropriating more money to Medicare, the new law also delayed the implementation of the new ICD 10 codes for another year, from October 2014 to October 2015. This came as a surprise to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the entity in charge of the ICD 10 rollout.
According to CMS representatives, preparations for the switch to ICD 10 were going well. In fact, their systems were ready over a year ago. End-to-end testing with providers was planned for July, but now will likely be delayed.
CMS did say that the delay offered an opportunity to work more closely with MDs on the benefits of ICD 10 and ensure that small physician practices are ready. Concerns about readiness among smaller providers were raised earlier this year by supporters of an ICD 10 delay.
One CMS representative commented that her immediate first thought upon hearing of the new law was of the individuals currently enrolled in coding school, who may be deep in the midst of learning a skill set that will not be useful for over a year.
Training of staff is indeed one of the hardest parts of making the leap to ICD 10. Fortunately, health plan providers can partner with HCC Coders to get the staff they need. All of our coders are pre-screened and fully up to date with the code set currently in use. When you leave the training and hiring to us, you can rest assured that your coding activities will get done in a timely and accurate manner, no matter what is going on in Washington.