A CMS spokeswoman has official announced the new effective date for ICD-10 compliance will be October 1, 2015. On April 1, President Barack Obama officially signed the temporary Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) “doc fix” delaying the compliance date of ICD-10 of October 1, 2014. The bill averted an automatic 24-percent Medicare reimbursement cut to physicians, which also includes two-midnight rule and recovery audits of medically unnecessary claims.
In a statement released following the ICD-10 delay, New York-based financial information services company Fitch Ratings described the one-year extension of ICD-10 as a “positive credit development” for not-for-profit hospitals.
“While a majority of providers have made the substantial investment in technology and personnel to be ready for the transition, the readiness of both governmental and commercial payers to adequately process claims and payments in a timely manner has been questioned. In our view, lower rated credits would be more susceptible to this risk as they have less financial resources to absorb a potential delay in reimbursement.”
Despite the delay, majority of providers have expressed moving forward with their ICD-10 implementation and the extra time will give providers and payers the opportunity to be fully prepared for ICD-10 in 2015.
