WEDI Submits Letter to HHS
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), the nation’s leading nonprofit authority on the use of health IT to create efficiencies in healthcare information exchange, submitted a letter to the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) outlining a high-level ICD-10 transition roadmap. The letter, written in response to the recent one year ICD-10 delay mandated by the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, details the impact of the postponement on healthcare stakeholders and defines recommended action steps to minimize continued disruption to the healthcare industry.
In the letter, several action steps are detailed including:
- Ensure Medicare and Medicaid readiness transparency
- Expedite, supporting and expanding industry testing
- Expand provider education and support
- Target outreach to non-covered entities
- Conduct or support limited pilots
- Establish clear milestones and track readiness
“WEDI and our industry partners believe that these recommendations provide a framework that we can work towards in order to ensure the successful ICD-10 transition,” said Devin Jopp, Ed.D., WEDI president and CEO. “It is critical that HHS work with private industry to establish credibility in a new compliance date by focusing on critical issues such as readiness transparency, comprehensive testing, and augmented education. Absent these actions, we are concerned that implementation of the code sets will continue to be protracted, adding needless administrative burden and cost to the industry.”
In development of the ICD-10 Transition Roadmap, WEDI convened an industry ICD-10 Summit on April 30, 2014 in Reston, Va, that featured participation of more than two hundred industry stakeholders. The Summit was a collaborative event co-sponsored by the Professional Association of Healthcare Office Management (PAHCOM), Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).
Read the full letter and learn about the developments from WEDI’s ICD-10 Summit which influenced this communication to HHS.
About WEDI
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) is the leading authority on the use of health IT to improve healthcare information exchange in order to enhance the quality of care, improve efficiency, and reduce costs of our nation’s healthcare system. WEDI was formed in 1991 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and was designated in the 1996 HIPAA legislation as an advisor to HHS. WEDI’s membership includes a broad coalition of organizations, including: hospitals, providers, health plans, vendors, government agencies, consumers, not-for-profit organizations, and standards development organizations. To learn more, visit http://www.wedi.org and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.