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Congressional subcommittee meeting indicates ICD-10 is on track

The seven health care stakeholders testifying before Congress Feb. 11 about ICD-10 preparedness spoke largely in favor of the new, more specific code set — and said providers will be ready.

The meeting kicked off with a comment from Congressman Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee, clearly stating his support for ICD-10. He said that a further delay to the ICD-10 transition "will entail additional costs to keep ICD-9 systems current, to re-train employees and to prepare, again, for the transition."

His sentiments were echoed by Congresswoman Kathy Castor (D- Fla.) when she urged the committee not to delay ICD-10, and particularly not to include a delay provision in must-pass bills going forward.

But Congressman Joe Barton (R-Texas) said that allowing providers to code in both ICD-9 and ICD-10 would ease the transition to ICD-10. He said he'd like to see CMS work closer with the provider community to implement the transition.

Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) also questioned experts on why a dual-implementation could not be feasible. Griffith stated his concern that implementation of ICD-10 would lead to an even larger physician shortage, particularly in rural communities.

During testimony before the subcommittee, six of seven witnesses spoke in favor of the code set, saying its benefits are significant — and that the industry is ready for it. Witnesses included representatives from physician groups, Yale University, 3M, a health insurance plan and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). — Josh Poltilove (jpoltilove@decisionhealth.com) and Nicholas Stern (nstern@decisionhealth.com)

Related link: For a list of witnesses and more information, link to: http://energycommerce.house.gov/hearing/examining-icd-10-implementation.

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