The American Medical Association (AMA), the Chicago-based advocacy group for healthcare providers, is not going down without a fight when it comes to ICD-10.
The association released a statement this week that expressed its concern over the lack of a contingency plan in place by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) if testing reveals potential problems with the transition to the code-set.
“The slightest glitch in the ICD-10 rollout could potentially cause a billion dollar back-log of medical claims that jeopardizes physician practices and disrupts patients’ access to care,” Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, president of the AMA, said in a written statement, according to Medical Economics. “The AMA is deeply concerned that Medicare does not have a back-up plan if last minute testing demonstrates anticipated problems with this massive coding transition. At the end of the day sticking hard and fast to the ICD-10 deadline without a back-up plan to address disruptions in medical claims processing will hurt doctors and their patients.”
At the recent HIMSS conference, CMS chief administrator, Marilyn Tavenner, R.N., said the agency was holding firm to the Oct. 1, 2014 compliance date, despite industry protests from the AMA and others that state the industry is ill-equipped to handle the transition.
"By now folks understand that there will be no more delays. Let's face it guys, we've delayed it more than once and it's time to move on," Tavenner said at HIMSS regarding ICD-10. She did outline a number of steps that CMS will be engaged to support ICD-10 testing, including end-to-testing.
