Bill HR 1701 Seeks to Halt ICD-10 Compliance

Bill HR 1701 Seeks to Halt ICD-10 Compliance

Last week at AHIMA’s ICD-10 CM/PCS Summit, Denise Buenning, Deputy Director of  CMS’ Office of E-Health Standards and Services, reiterated that the October 1, 2014 ICD-10 compliance date will remain. In her statement, Buenning said “Given that ICD-10 is essential to greater interoperability, information sharing and ultimately providing better patient care and lowering healthcare costs, we are continuing to move forward with our ICD-10 implementation efforts in full anticipation of the October 1, 2014 compliance date.”

Now comes news this week that Representative Ted Poe (R-Texas) has introduced a new bill (HR 1701) that would stop HHS from mandating providers move to ICD-10. The move to the new code set has already been delayed from an original October 1, 2013 to October 1, 2014 with the release of a final rule last August. Even with this delay, the AMA along with the majority of state medical societies, expressed concerns about meeting the new compliance date in a letter sent to CMS in December.

Bill HR 1701  has made its way to the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees. Both committees would need to approve the bill before moving on to a full House vote.