ICD-10 Deadline Postponed

The implementation of ICD-10, a medical coding system which was supposed to go into effect in October 2013, has been indefinitely postponed.

HHS has indicated it will announce a new compliance date moving forward.  This is the second delay of ICD-10.  HHS has explained that the reason for the delay is related to concerns from the medical community about administrative burdens associated with making the switch from ICD-9.

ICD-10 represents a fundamental change over the ICD-9 coding system.  For example, under ICD-9, the code sets can only be from 3-5 characters in length.  ICD-10 allows code sets to be between 3-7 characters in length.  Also, ICD-10 contains approximately 68,000 codes, where ICD-9 contained approximately 13,000.

To read the HHS news release announcing the delay in implementation, go here.

~At Matthews Law Firm, we practice criminal defense & healthcare compliance~

(Disclaimer: This post is not intended as legal advice nor does it create an attorney-client relationship.)