Section 212 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (H.R. 4302) states the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “may not, prior to Oct. 1, 2015, adopt ICD-10 code sets,” meaning that it could be later than next fall. A final date is likely to come through the federal rule-making process. The delay of ICD-10 impacts much more than just coded medical bills, but also quality, population health, and other programs that expected to start using ICD-10 codes in October. Many coding education programs had switched to teaching only ICD-10 codes to students. The delay directly impacts at least 25,000 students who have learned to code exclusively in ICD-10.  ICD-10 was released in 1992 . China implemented it in 2002, South Africa in 2005 and Thailand in 2007. The United States remains one of the only developed countries that has not made the transition to ICD-10.

There are many opinions about the new law and the decision to delay the ICD-10 implementation. Those who were on track to meet the deadline are disappointed that their efforts are unrewarded. Some who were expecting more detailed data for analysis are also unhappy with the delay. Others who were struggling to meet the deadline are breathing a sigh of relief. The statistics are conflicting:

• 76% of respondents are confident they would be ICD-10 compliant (Modern Healthcare 2/22/14)
• 48% of survey respondents wanted HHS to once again delay ICD-10 implementation (Modern Healthcare 2/22/14)
• 79% of physicians report that they haven’t begun ICD-10 implementation, or were
  only “somewhat ready.” (Medical Economics 3/24/14)

Also surprising is that Congress made the decision, not the administration. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner during a 2/25/14 keynote presentation to the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2014 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida announced “There are no more delays and the system will go live on Oct. 1,” .

It seems that the lobbying efforts of the AMA, MGMA and others paid off.

Some are now asking if we “should transition from ICD-9 to ICD-11 and skip ICD-10”. ICD-11 is in Beta and field trials and the World Health Organization is expecting its release in 2017.  Waiting for ICD-11 would result in at least a further two year delay but it would save a future conversion and put the U.S. in the vanguard of latest classification system. It’s easy to imagine the strong views and arguments both ways.

What do you think?