CMS may conduct ICD-10 testing

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) may be open to conducting ICD-10 end-to-end testing with physician offices, according to MedPage Today's “The Gupta Guide.”

"They were at least willing to revisit the issue of testing," reported Robert Tennant, senior policy adviser, Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), who cited a CMS official during a stakeholder meeting, according to the article. The admission follows a bumpy rollout of its healthcare.gov site.

In the past, the agency said it was confident that its current testing was adequate to handle the new bill coding system.

Several organizations already have expressed concern about the lack of testing. In July, MGMA said in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that it was “extremely concerned” about the lack of testing and had urged the agency to reverse this policy to avoid a “catastrophic” backlog of Medicare claims.

“We believe it is imperative that you address this concern without delay and direct Medicare to conduct ICD-10 end-to-end testing with all external trading partners,” according to the letter.