ICD-10 Delays

I blogged on the new ICD-10 coding changes which were to be implemented soon, but citing an outpouring of demand for more time, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this month granted a two-year deadline extension to 2013 for the transition from ICD-9 codes to the greatly expanded ICD-10 codes.

If you remember, the transition to ICD-10, which contains 155,000 codes compared to ICD-9 which has 17,000 was going to be a nightmare for offices, clearing houses and payers.

The regulators received more than 3,000 public comments, with a majority asking for a delay in the compliance dates citing implementation costs, the need to train healthcare personnel, and to ensure ample time for testing.

This change is going to be very expensive for providers and really provide them or their patients with no added benefit.

A recent study by Reistertown, Maryland-based research firm, Nachimson Advisors LLC reported the ICD-10 upgrade would cost a practice with three physicians about $83,290, and a practice of 10 physicians $285,195 to upgrade.

This is an unfunded mandate that will add more administrative hassles with no benefit to patient care. It will give insurance companies one more reason to deny a payment.