CMS ready for ICD-10 on Oct. 1, officials say

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will continue to pay claims and implement ICD-10 if the Congress fails to act by Oct. 1 on legislation to fund the government into fiscal year 2016, CMS Principal Deputy Administrator Patrick Conway said during a press briefing today on ICD-10 implementation. Health care claims must include ICD-10 codes for medical diagnoses and inpatient hospital procedures beginning Oct. 1. “We recognize that [ICD-10] is a significant transition and we have set up processes and operations to monitor the transition in real time, assess our system, and investigate and address issues as they come in through the ICD-10 Coordination Center,” he said. “Providers experiencing issues related to the submission of their claims should first contact their billing vendor and/or clearinghouse. After that they can contact their Medicare Administrative Contractor. If the providers need additional assistance they can contact the ICD-10 ombudsman at CMS.” It could take two weeks to 30 days for the agency to have a full picture of how the transition went because it can take that long to process Medicare and Medicaid claims, respectively, Conway said. For more on the transition, see today’s CMS Blog post by ICD-10 Ombudsman Bill Rogers, M.D., or visit www.aha.org. Rogers can be contacted at ICD10_ombudsman@cms.hhs.gov.