Written by Chuck Buck, ICD-10 Monitor
Despite a significant lobbying effort mounted by a small but very vocal minority within the healthcare industry, the implementation of ICD-10 is expected to proceed without further delay.
The failed push marked a third attempt to delay the Oct. 1, 2015 ICD-10 implementation deadline well into 2017. Members of Congress rejected the request to include language that would again delay ICD-10 in the lame-duck omnibus spending bill that was passed by Congress on Dec. 11 and ratify by the Senate on Dec. 13.
Failing to delay ICD-10 by using a legislative maneuver – slipping language in a massive spending bill – represents a crippling blow to opposition that will make future efforts to revisit the matter very difficult. Congress made its decision not to hold up ICD-10 after hearing opinions about it from many voices in the healthcare community, including well-organized groups of physicians. During the course of this debate, there were many myths perpetuated, not to mention promises of doom and dysfunction, but also strong cases for proceeding with the coding system upgrade.
While fans of ICD-9 will no doubt use the March 2015 sustainable growth rate (SGR) bill to make another run at delaying implementation, it will be hard to convince members of Congress that more time is needed. If Congress didn’t see the need to enact a delay in December, why would they be convinced to delay months later in March?
Advocates for ICD-10, including the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), national and regional hospital associations, and physician groups are applauding the decision by Congress. Across the industry, companies and healthcare organizations have invested millions of dollars preparing for ICD-10. Many physicians have planned ahead for ICD-10 by taking advantage of low- and zero-cost education resources made available by the government.
Upon hearing the news that ICD-10 cleared a major legislative hurdle, organizations issued statements expressing their support for moving forward on this long-awaited and much-needed move to implement.
“Congress issued a strong message and sent the ‘delay ICD-10’ crowd back to the bench,” said Chris Powell, CEO of Precyse, a provider of health information management solutions and staunch advocate for ICD-10.
“I predict that, in a short time, the industry will look at the upsides of a modern coding system and wish that ICD-10 had arrived much sooner,” added Powell. “The vast majority of the industry is ready to move beyond ICD-9, an antiquated and very limited system that is woefully insufficient for hospitals, physicians, and patients. We have a myriad of best practices and learnings gained from other countries’ migrations to ICD-10 before us, and we now have the green light to put ICD-10 into motion.”