Dive Brief:
- The AMA's president-to-be, Dr. Steven Stack, supports a new bill (HR 2126) to stop the implementation of new ICD-10 code sets to take effect October 1, 2015.
- The Cutting Costly Codes Act 2015, introduced by Texas Rep. Ted Poe, would prohibit Health and Human Services from adopting ICD-10 as a replacement for ICD-9.
- Stack suggested in an interview with Healthcare Finance that it would be best to wait until the implementation of ICD-11 and that ICD-10 should be shelved. "We believe the problems associated with ICD-10 are so substantial, our policy is we should not move forward with ICD-10," Stack said.
Dive Insight:
The bill is probably a longshot, despite continued provider unreadiness. (According to an April WEDI survey, two-thirds of providers indicated they had slowed or halted their ICD-10 efforts as a result of the most recent delay and approximately 50% said "uncertainty over future delays" had prevented them from making more progress.) Despite his stance that ICD-10 should be scrapped, Stack indicated that, "very clearly, the current policy of the federal government is ICD-10 will be implemented Oct. 1 2015."
ICD-10 would increase codes to around 68,000 from the 13,000 currently under ICD-9, and could cost roughly between $56,000 to $8 million to implement, according to an April 30 press release issued by Rep. Poe. According to Poe, "the new ICD-10 codes will not make one patient healthier. He added: "Big government must get out of the way and let doctors do what they were trained to do—help people."
Want to read more? You may enjoy this GIF guide to the most important animal ICD-10 codes.