Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents at the American Health Information Management Association's (AHIMA) 2014 ICD-10 and Computer Assisted Coding (CAC) Summit in Washington D.C. were disappointed by the ICD-10 delay, AHIMA reported.
Summit participants had the chance to share opinions this week in a real-time poll conducted via text that addressed a variety of key questions on ICD-10 and next steps. Additionally:
• 42 percent of respondents said their organization has spent more than $1 million on implementation
• 91 percent of respondents said ICD-10 should not go into effect in stages
• 50 percent of respondents would—if allowed—be interested in voluntary reporting of ICD-10 codes beginning on Oct. 1 2014
• 54 percent of respondents did not want the partial code set freeze lifted
In the first public comment since the delay by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Denise Buenning, acting deputy director of the Office of E-Health Standards, said that she expects the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will announce a new implementation date in the near future and reaffirmed CMS’ commitment to ICD-10.
“We appreciated AHIMA’s response,” Buenning said. “Your national organization and leadership represented you well; I applaud all of you. … Everyone perks up when the industry speaks up. CMS certainly does. I know how difficult it is; we’re continuing to push this forward.” Buenning added that the extra time provided by the delay eliminates any excuses not to be able to transition to ICD-10.
“This year’s Summit provided a valuable opportunity to assemble many of the key players in the ICD-10 transition and take the pulse of the industry,” AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon, said in a statement. “… AHIMA continues to advocate that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announce Oct. 1, 2015, as the new implementation date…”
On April 1, President Barack Obama signed into law the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 to patch the sustainable growth rate formula for Medicare physician pay. Section 212 of the law delayed ICD-10 implementation until at least October 1, 2015. A recent poll conducted by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found that more than half of healthcare organizations are disappointed in the one-year delay of ICD-10.
