ICD-10 delay bill floated by Texas congressman in long-shot bid to block code change
Republican Rep. Ted Poe has tried to kill the switch before.
A Texas representative has introduced a bill to stop the implementation of ICD-10, though the bill is not expected to pass.
On April 30, Rep. Ted Poe, R-TX, introduced H.R. 2126, a bill seeking to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from replacing ICD-9 with ICD-10 diagnostic coding vocabulary.
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The new healthcare coding system is scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1.
The bill has been referred to the House Committees on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means. However, it may not make it out of either committee.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee already debated ICD-10 in a hearing held in February in which many members voiced support.
Ways and Means also historically supports ICD-10, according to the Journal of American Health Information Management Association.
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If taken up by one of the committees, a hearing would take place to debate the bill and possibly add amendments or modifications, according to the American Health Information Management Association. If the bill still has support, it would be sent to the House floor for a vote.
Since Poe is not on either committee, he would need to get a number of co-sponsors to support the bill, or find a champion on one of the two committees for the bill to be considered, according to AHIMA.
Some committee members in February voiced concern for ICD-10 implementation due to opposition from physicians.
The American Medical Association has called implementation of the new codes a burden on doctors who want to concentrate on quality care to patients.
In March, the AMA and 99 other physician groups urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to have an ICD-10 contingency plan in place to avoid claims acceptance failures that could result in a multibillion dollar disruption for physicians and serious care issues for Medicare patients.
Poe is a long-time opponent of the ICD-10 implementation, according to AHIMA. In 2013, he introduced a similar bill into the House of Representatives that failed to gain traction, the Journal stated.
Twitter: @SusanMorseHFN
