ICD-10 Delayed until October 2015

Yesterday, President Obama signed bill HR 4302 into law, which delays the implementation of ICD-10 until October 1, 2015. Here is the actual text from the bill:

"Sec 212. Delay in transition from ICD–9 TO ICD–10 code sets.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services may not, prior to October 1, 2015, adopt ICD–10 code sets as the standard for code sets under section 1173(c) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2(c)) and section 162.1002 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations."

We expect CMS to begin providing additional guidance regarding timing, testing and other clarifications.  American HealthTech will be seeking immediate clarification on those and a number of additional technical issues such as the exact length of the delay.  As we learn more through our work with CMS and our government relations firm in Washington, we will keep you informed.  However, considering that this delay came as a surprise to many government officials – including CMS – we expect that the details may take some time to surface.