Last month, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the department would delay the ICD-10 compliance date but did not provide a concrete deadline. The new proposed deadline is the second official delay of ICD-10. In 2008, a proposed rule stated the ICD-10 compliance date would be Oct. 1, 2011. In Jan. 2009, HHS issued a final rule pushing the date back to Oct. 1, 2013.
HHS estimates that this delay of ICD-10 will save the healthcare industry $3.6 billion to $8 billion. That estimate is based on the avoidance of two consequences if the compliance date stayed Oct. 1, 2013: Some healthcare providers and health plans may have had to process claims manually to be paid, and small healthcare providers may have had to take out loans to continue to provide healthcare in the face of delayed payments.
However, HHS also estimates a one-year delay of ICD-10 could add 10 to 30 percent to the total cost for medium and large hospitals, commercial health plans and large physician practices that are far along in the ICD-10 transition.
“We believe the change in the compliance date for ICD-10…would give providers and other covered entities more time to prepare and fully test their systems to ensure a smooth and coordinated transition by all industry segments,” the proposed rule states.
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