Bill HR 1701 Seeks to Halt ICD-10 Compliance

Last week at AHIMA’s ICD-10 CM/PCS Summit, Denise Buenning, Deputy Director of  CMS’ Office of E-Health Standards and Services, reiterated that the October 1, 2014 ICD-10 compliance date will remain. In her statement, Buenning said “Given that ICD-10 is essential to greater interoperability, information sharing and ultimately providing better patient care and lowering healthcare costs, we are continuing to move forward with our ICD-10 implementation efforts in full anticipation of the October 1, 2014 compliance date.”

Now comes news this week that Representative Ted Poe (R-Texas) has introduced a new bill (HR 1701) that would stop HHS from mandating providers move to ICD-10. The move to the new code set has already been delayed from an original October 1, 2013 to October 1, 2014 with the release of a final rule last August. Even with this delay, the AMA along with the majority of state medical societies, expressed concerns about meeting the new compliance date in a letter sent to CMS in December.