Tom Sullivan
Think your challenges are daunting when it comes to implementing ICD-10? Put things in perspective by imagining the Mount Everest the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has to climb.
Even with the major revisions to the final regulations for accountable care organizations (ACOs), uncertainty remains. The risks and technical challenges hospitals will face in transforming to the ACO model are daunting and require consideration.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are giving payers, providers and vendors a bit of a break. It has instituted a 90-day grace period for HIPAA 5010. January 1, 2012 is still the compliance date, but CMS said it will not "initiate enforcement action" on that compliance before March 31, 2012.
The American Medical Association (AMA) on Tuesday said that its delegates are working to stop implementation of ICD-10.
Government Health IT Editor Tom Sullivan spoke recently with Ana Croxton, NextGen Healthcare's vice president of EDI products and services, about its 5010 efforts and what lies ahead on the road to ICD-10 -- including a service that's not yet released but is in the design phase to help users understand ICD-10 codes.
With the new final rules issued Thursday by CMS for accountable care organizations (ACO), the healthcare industry is working to understand the changes, which appear at first glance to make the qualifying parameters more achievable.
If anyone is suggesting that ICD-10 will not create a productivity drop in the days after compliance, they must be practicing silent protest.
Anyone hoping The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' announcement that it will conduct a HIPAA 5010, ICD-10 readiness assessment is a sign that the group might once again push back the deadlines would be wise not to hold breath for such an outcome.
Although no official word has been handed down regarding exactly what fines our federal government may slap against healthcare organizations that fail to comply with HIPAA 5010 or ICD-10, it appears likely that there will be fines, and they will be sizable.
The latest firm to share ICD-10 tactics, HCL Technologies on Tuesday discussed what it considers to be eight of the most important.