February 20, 2012 — As part of president Obama’s pledge to reduce regulatory burden, Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced HHS will postpone the date at which certain health care entities have to comply with International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition (ICD-10) diagnosis and procedure codes.
The final rule adopting ICD-10 as a standard was published in January 2009 and set a compliance date of Oct. 1, 2013 – a delay of two years from the compliance date initially specified in the 2008 proposed rule. HHS will announce a new compliance date moving forward.
“ICD-10 codes are important to many positive improvements in our healthcare system,” Sebelius said. “We have heard from many in the provider community who have concerns about the administrative burdens they face in the years ahead. We are committing to work with the provider community to re-examine the pace at which HHS and the nation implement these important improvements to our healthcare system.”
ICD-10 codes provide specific data intended to help improve patient care and enable the exchange of health care data with the rest of the world that has long been using ICD-10. Entities covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) will be required to use the ICD-10 diagnostic and procedure codes.
For more information: www.cms.gov
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