CMS moves ICD-10 conversion date to Oct. 1, 2015

May 2, 2014—The countdown has restarted toward the compliance deadline with the federally mandated conversion to the ICD-10 diagnostic and procedural codes. The new ICD-10 start date is Oct. 1, 2015, according to a terse statement from the CMS.

But many of the problems and anxieties that led to last month’s congressional pushback of the ICD-10 start date are still unresolved, several experts said.

HHS “expects to release an interim final rule in the near future that will include a new compliance date that would require the use of ICD-10 beginning Oct. 1, 2015,” the CMS statement said. “The rule will also require HIPAA-covered entities to continue to use ICD-9-CM through Sept. 30, 2015.”

Physician groups led the charge in opposition to the 2014 deadline, citing a host of potential problems. Those included the inability of many vendors of electronic-health-record and practice-management systems to have their ICD-10 updated systems delivered in enough time for physicians and their staffs to have them installed; train themselves on how to use them; and have the claims generated by them adequately tested against the systems and rules of their health plans and claims clearinghouses.

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Source: Modern Healthcare