Home Health & Hospice Week

If you were hoping that the Oct. 1, 2013 ICD-10 implementation date wasn't set in stone, you are out of luck.

That's the word during a June 15 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Door Forum entitled "ICD-10 Implementation in a 5010 Environment."

"There will be no delays on this implementation period, and no grace period," said Pat Brooks with CMS's Hospital and Ambulatory Policy Group, during the call. "A number of you have contacted us about rumors you've heard about postponement of that date or changes to that date, but I can assure you that that is a firm implementation date," she stressed.

Brooks indicated that the rumor about a potential delay in the implementation date continues to persist. Providers should spread the word that the rumor is untrue, she urged.

Currently, CMS publishes about 14,000 ICD-9 codes, but there are more than 69,000 ICD-10 codes. The additional codes will allow you to provide greater detail in describing diagnoses and procedures,Brooks said.

You can check out the entire 2010 ICD-10 codeset, which CMS has posted on its website at www.cms.gov/ICD10. "Later this year, we'll be posting the 2011 update," Brooks said during the call.

In addition, you can review general equivalence mappings (GEMs) if you'd like information on how to convert data from ICD-9 to ICD-10 or vice-versa. The GEMs can be helpful if you're converting lists, systems, or applications from one system to another.

"Some people refer to these as crosswalks, others call them mapping, but they're basically forward and backward mapping between the coding systems," Brooks said. However, "the GEMs are not a substitute for learning how to code ICD-10."

In fact, the GEMs may be more trouble than they're worth in some cases. "Frankly, for some of  you who have small projects with just a few codes, you may not want to bother with the GEMs,"

Brooks said. "It's probably just quicker to pick up an ICD-10 code book and use that rather than the GEMs," she noted.

Vendors, payers, and coding educators have asked CMS to freeze the current diagnosis code set to help make ICD-10 transition planning simpler. CMS therefore created a proposal under which it would update the ICD-9 codeset one last time on Oct. 1, 2011, after which no ICD-9 codes will be added to the set except for those updates required for new technologies and diseases. Regular updates to ICD-10 would begin on Oct. 1, 2014 under the proposal.

"We plan to make a final decision on any code freeze and announce it at the September ...2010 ICD-9 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting," Brooks said.

Stay tuned: CMS will present a follow-up conference call regarding ICD-10 on Sept. 13, said CMS's Hazeline Roulac. Watch for call information at www.cms.gov/ICD10.