Home Health & Hospice Week

You have an extra few years, but you'll still be hard pressed to achieve compliance. Health care providers are claiming victory on the ICD-10 implementation schedule, but that shouldn't prevent you from planning for the transition already. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services extended the ICD-10 deadline by two years to Oct. 1, 2013 (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, p.31), and providers and their coders are thrilled. The delay from the proposed 2011 deadline "is a victory for medicine," says the Tennessee Medical Association in a typical response. "Everyone will have more time to become trained in the use of ICD-10 and make any intra-office systems changes necessary for implementation of this unfunded mandate," TMA says in a release. "This delay is a victory for providers, payers, and coders," says the American Academy of Pro-fessional Coders in a release. It "allows for a more efficient transition, giving [...]