People may have heard over the years that health care in America has started and stopped, started and stopped, on the road to ICD-10. What exactly is that?
ICD-10 is the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), a medical classification list by the World Health Organization (WHO). It contains codes for diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases.
The latest compliance date for ICD-10 has been set as October 1, 2015, according to new regulation published by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on August 4, 2014. This one-year delay in the implementation of ICD-10 came from language inserted into the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, which was signed into law on April 1, 2014. The new regulation also clarifies that ICD-9 will continue to be required until September 30, 2015.
However, earlier this month, the House proposed a new bill, H.R. 2126, the Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2015, aimed at freezing ICD-10 CM/PCS implementation. The bill intends to prohibit Sylvia M. Burwell, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), from substituting the currently implemented International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision (ICD-9) diagnostic code set with ICD-10. H.R. 2126 additionally mandates the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to execute research on how to best alleviate the financial burden of this decision on healthcare providers.
So, the saga continues. However, if ICD-10 does go into affect — and Diagnostic Imaging Services is fully preparing for its implementation as scheduled — you can learn a bit more about this topic by viewing the video, courtesy of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Our goal is full and successful implementation in order to continue our smooth and seamless processes for scheduling exams and providing results to health care providers. Should ICD-10 move forward, we will be ready.