ICD-10 delay finalized
The one-year proposed delay of the ICD-10 compliance deadline has been finalized announced the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday. The final rule delays the compliance deadline from Oct. 1, 2013, to Oct. 1, 2014.
[See also: HHS proposes one-year ICD-10 delay.]
These code sets, known as the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition diagnosis and procedure codes, will include some 87,000 codes for new procedures and diagnoses that officials say will boost the quality of information available for quality improvement and payment purposes.
"We believe the change in the compliance date for ICD-10 gives covered healthcare providers and other covered entities more time to prepare and fully test their systems to ensure a smooth and coordinated transition by all covered entities," the summary continued.
"We are allowing more time for covered entities to prepare for the transition to ICD-10 and to conduct thorough testing. By allowing more time to prepare, covered entities may be able to avoid costly obstacles that would otherwise emerge while in production," HHS wrote.
In the Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) of this final rule, HHS officials estimated a cost savings of $3.6 billion to nearly $8 billion just from avoiding the costs related to a large number of healthcare providers being unprepared for ICD-10.
The rule announced Friday also establishes a unique health plan identifier (HPID), one of the administration simplification rules required by the Affordable Care Act. Government officials say the administration simplication rules will save up to $6 billion over 10 years.
“These new standards are a part of our efforts to help providers and health plans spend less time filling out paperwork and more time seeing their patients,” said Kathleen Sebelius, HHS secretary, in the agency's announcement.
The rule will go into effect on November 5, 2012.
