Home Health & Hospice Week

Plus: Home care shouldn't rely too heavily on CMS's ICD-9 to ICD-10 crosswalk tool. Although confusion about the ICD-10 transition abounds, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services aimed to assuage some concerns during its May 19 CMS Open Door Forum on the topic. For instance: The implementation date for ICD-10 remains Oct. 1, 2013, but after that date,contractors will accept ICD-9 codes for services with dates prior to Oct. 1, 2013 "for a period of time," noted Pat Brooks, senior technical advisor with CMS, during the call. However, CMS has not revealed how long after the ICD-10 implementation date it will accept those codes. What this means: "When the time comes, [providers] will want to submit their claims for dates of services prior to Oct. 1, 2013 as quickly as possible,"notes coder Liza Shuman with Health Care Consultants in Boston. "The phrase 'for a period of time' seems to [...]