CMS: Hold off on ICD-10 front-end testing until October

Providers, suppliers, billing companies and clearinghouses should delay acknowledgement testing for ICD-10 until after Oct. 6, 2014, when Medicare is expected to update its system, according to a notice from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Niall Brennan, acting director of the agency's Offices of Enterprise Management.

Once that date passes, these entities are encouraged submit acknowledgement test claims anytime up to the anticipated Oct. 1, 2015 implementation date.

Brennan also reported that CMS will conduct end-to-end testing in 2015. “Details about this testing will be released soon,” he wrote.

An interim final rule that includes Oct. 1, 2015 as the new ICD-10 compliance date is expected shortly.