With less than 3 months until the October 1, 2015 deadline for switching to ICD-10 codes, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services just granted providers some unexpected leniency. But what do the changes mean to your medical group?<\/p>\n
First of all, what\u2019s not changing: the October 1, 2015 deadline for ICD-10 implementation remains. And no, CMS will not accept ICD-9 or dual coding after the switch<\/strong>. So you still have to start using the more specific ICD-10 codes come October.<\/p>\n The American Medical Association\u2014 more than 225,000 physician members strong \u2014 is credited with influencing CMS to implement these changes<\/strong>:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Advanced Payments<\/strong> Denied Claims<\/strong> Quality Reporting<\/strong> Help Wanted: ICD-10 Ombudsman<\/strong> With less than 3 months until the October 1, 2015 deadline for switching to ICD-10 codes, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services just granted providers some unexpected leniency. But what do the changes mean to your medical group? First of all, what\u2019s not changing: the October 1, 2015 deadline for ICD-10 implementation remains. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-15487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth","category-revenue","tag-icd-10"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong>CMS will grant advance payments to physicians who experience payment disruptions if their Medicare contractor experiences problems processing ICD-10 claims in a timely manner.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>For the first 12 months, CMS will not deny claims or reject payment based solely on incorrect specificity. ICD-10 codes are more complex, and the agency will still process payments as long as you choose the correct family of codes for a given procedure or service.<\/p>\n
\nAgain, as long as you choose the right family of ICD-10 codes, CMS will not penalize providers through the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS)<\/strong>.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe AMA also asked, and convinced, CMS to name an ICD-10 Ombudsman to help providers correctly submit claims. At the same time, CMS is setting up an ICD-10 Coordination Center to monitor transition issues, respond to them, and facilitate questions for the ombudsman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"