Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday that HHS will initiate a process to postpone the compliance date for ICD-10 implementation. The announcement came two days after Acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner told the American Medical Association’s National Advocacy Conference in Washington, DC that CMS would consider extending the implementation timeline.

The announcement to delay ICD-10 implementation comes at a time when physicians are struggling to achieve meaningful use of electronic medical records, to increase their adoption of e-prescribing, to report data to CMS in the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), and to incorporate new electronic transactions into their practice management systems.

A rulemaking proposal modifying the timing of the health industry’s transition to ICD-10 is expected to be announced in the next few days. The NCMS is closely watching this development and will provide updates in the Bulletin and on the NCMS Version 5010 & ICD-10 Resources webpage.  

Currently, physicians, other health care providers, and insurers have been under pressure to adopt new ICD-10 code sets by October 1, 2013, a process that requires changing from about 14,000 ICD-9 codes to 69,000 ICD-10 codes. The AMA House of Delegates approved a resolution in November 2011 that opposed the adoption of ICD-10 because of the increased burdens created by several health information technology (HIT) initiatives in the federal health care reform law. Among them are adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and the Medicare meaningful use incentive program

See related articles:

AMA calls on Congress to block ICD-10 mandate on doctors (American Medical News, 2-6-12) 

AMA Adopts New Policies During Final Day of Semi-Annual Meeting (AMA News, 11-15-11)

For more news and resources concerning Version 5010 and ICD-10, visit the CMS ICD-10 website.