Home Health & Hospice Week

After all the hard work you've put into diagnosis coding, you'll have to start over again with a brand new incarnation of the system.

PPS shakeup: And a slew of new codes will throw the prospective payment system mastery you've gained since the PPS revisions into disarray.

However, the proposed implementation date for the new system isn't until 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revealed in proposed rule issued on its Web site Aug. 15.

The new coding set has a lot more codes than the current one -- 155,000 compared to the current 17,000 codes. "The greatly expanded ICD-10 code sets will enable HHS to fully support quality reporting, pay-for-performance, bio-surveillance, and other critical activities," notes Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt in a release.

"Developed almost 30 years ago, ICD-9 is now widely viewed as outdated because of its limited ability to accommodate new procedures and diagnoses," CMS says in the release.

"Now is the right time to move forward with the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10," CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems maintains. "We recognize that the transition to ICD-10 will require some upfront costs, but each year of delay would create additional costs."

Nearly 140 countries already use the new ICD-10 system for coding and reporting mortality data, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice notes.

CMS has also proposed the HIPAA electronic transaction changes that a new coding system would require.

For a copy of the 162-page proposed ICD-10 rule, email editor Rebecca Johnson at rebeccaj@eliresearch.com with "ICD-10 Rule" in the subject line.

Speak up: Comments on the rule are due Oct. 21.

Stay tuned: For more on the new ICD-10 system, see future issues of Eli's Home Care Week.