Month: March 2014

ICD-10 Implementation Date Delayed

Jason Gottlieb

ICD-10 Project Leadership and Participants

At approximately 6:59 PM Easter Standard Time (EST) on Monday, March 31, 2014, the United States Senate, by vote of 64 – 35, elected to pass H.R. 4302, legislation that installs the 17th consecutive temporary fix to the sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) for Medicare payments to physicians.  This bill also includes the previously mentioned clause to delay the implementation of the ICD-10 coding system until a minimum of October 1, 2015.  All indications are that President Obama will follow the lead of his legislative counterparts and sign this bill into law.

NYP, by all estimates, continues to be ahead of the industry curve in its readiness and adoption activities.  We will continue to fine tune our understanding of the potential impact of ICD-10 on all aspects of hospital activity – clinical, operational, and financial.  We will also monitor the relevant industry, regulatory, and legislative channels for clarity on the new implementation date.  However, in absence of such a date, I will be looking to convene project leadership to establish a more formal position and go forward strategy for NYP

This most recent development and delay is assuredly frustrating to many who have worked tirelessly amongst many, many competing priorities to ensure NYP’s people, processes, and technologies were not only ICD-10 ready but ICD-10 operational well in advance of the October 1, 2014 implementation date; a goal that we largely achieved for many aspects of the hospital operation.  These efforts are not unrecognized and will continue to contribute enormous value whenever the United States government in conjunction with the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) decide to implement ICD-10.  Once again, I’d like to thank all members of the team for those efforts.

Potential Delay of ICD-10 Implementation Date

Jason Gottlieb

Earlier this afternoon, the United States House of Representatives passed by way of a voice vote, H.R. 4302 which primarily includes provisions to install another temporary fix to the sustainable growth rate formula for physician payments.  Included in this passed legislation is a provision that would not allow the Health and Human Services Secretary to implement the ICD-10 coding system until at least October 1, 2015.

It is important to stress that the implementation of ICD-10 has not been delayed at this time.  The current legislation has passed in the House of Representatives only.  It still must pass a vote in the Senate as it is currently constituted and finally be signed into law by President Obama.

As has been NYP’s method of operation for the past 2 plus years, we will continue to move forward with the expectation that ICD-10 will be implemented on October 1, 2014 until otherwise informed.  I’d like to thank all members participating in the ICD-10 project for their continued leadership, efforts, and support.

The Difference between ICD-9 and ICD-10 Codes

Alex Hass

ICD-10 codes differ from ICD-9 codes in their basic form and structure, which is good news for anyone who needs to be able to differentiate between the two without being familiar with individual codes.  ICD-10 codes tend to be longer than ICD-9 codes and to have more flexibility as to whether characters can be numbers or letters.  See below for additional details.

ICD-9 diagnosis codes have 3-5 characters. The characters are all numbers, except for supplementary codes – V and E codes.

ICD-10 diagnosis codes have 3-7 characters.  The first character is always a letter, and the rest can be letters or numbers.

ICD10

ICD-9 Example

 Training_icd9_example

ICD-10 Example

Training_icd10_conversionV2

What is ICD and ICD-10?

Rachel Tornheim

What is ICD? 

ICD stands for International Classification of Diseases.  This classification, which is developed by the World Health Organization, consists of a set of diagnosis codes, which describe what is wrong with a given patient, and a set of procedure codes, which describe the various tests and treatments that we use to understand and treat their condition.

What is ICD used for?

The diagnosis and procedure codes that are part of ICD are used for billing purposes, both to help providers check whether certain procedures were needed given a patient’s ailment (medical necessity checking), and to determine how much a provider should be paid for treating a given patient.

What is ICD-10?

ICD-10 is the 10th iteration of the International Classification of Diseases.

Why does the International Classification of Diseases need to be updated?

With advances in science, the discovery of new diseases, the development of new tests and treatments, and changing needs for data to inform outcomes research, each iteration of the ICD codes becomes obsolete over time.  ICD-9 has been in place for over 30 years.