NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC., issued a statement following the ICD-10 delay for another year to 2015 after yesterday’s Senate vote to patch the Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR” or “Doc Fix”).
Michael Lovett, executive vice president and general manger provided the following comment:
“The Senate’s vote to patch the SGR and delay ICD-10 for another year doesn’t impact our commitment to helping move healthcare forward or our focus on preparing clients to meet all regulatory deadlines. We agree that ICD-10 is of tremendous importance to emerging value-based payment models and to the efficient delivery of quality care; we also view the move to data driven healthcare as a significant step in the right direction. However, we as a healthcare community must now look beyond the delay and focus on other reform initiatives as well as looming Meaningful Use deadlines. We need to remind providers that ICD-10 and Meaningful Use are complementary initiatives, and providers would be well-suited to focus on both. Providers need to ensure they are employing or are upgrading to an ONC 2014 Edition certified electronic health record (EHR). While the process for gearing up for these major reforms may be onerous, we believe the results have the potential to revolutionize healthcare in ways never seen before and providers have a better chance of succeeding if they are prepared. Providers should continue to act now to take advantage of the opportunities contained in the Affordable Care Act and to achieve associated incentives and benefits for their practice.”
