The Coalition for ICD-10, an alliance of hospitals, health plans, professional associations, coding experts, and vendors, recently requested the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish October 1, 2015 as the new ICD-10 date. A news release from the Coalition reports that the organization submitted a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, CMS administrator, which states that third delay of ICD-10 adoption, resulting from Congressional passage of Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, has yielded uncertainty relative to the future of ICD-10, and this uncertainty, “is further compounded by the lack of a firm implementation date.”

The letter urges that the delay not extend past October 2015, and asks HHS to announce October 1, 2015 as the new implementation date as soon as possible. According to the letter, “The delay is going to be disruptive and costly for health care delivery innovation, payment reform, public health, and health care spending, and uncertainty on the implementation date only adds to the disruption and cost.”

According to the release, in the letter the Coalition also highlighted the amount of time, effort, and resources used by its members in preparing for the transition to ICD-10. Additionally, the Coalition announced its intent to work with HHS and its various agencies to ensure a smooth transition on October 1, 2015. Specifically, the Coalition emphasized its willingness to work with CMS in order to pinpoint measurable milestones in the progression toward implementation “to demonstrate that preparatory work is proceeding smoothly toward successful implementation.”

The release notes that the Coalition for ICD-10 aims to promote the importance of ICD-10 to improving quality measurement, public measurement, public health surveillance, clinical research, and health care payment through research, education, advocacy, and mobilization.

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[Source(s): Coalition for ICD-10, PRWEB]