Legislators plan to uphold 2015 ICD-10 implementation

While some healthcare organizations are pushing for a two-year delay to the Oct. 1, 2015, ICD-10 implementation date, two House committee leaders issued a joint statement expressing their support for maintaining the deadline for the transition.

The Medical Society of the State of New York, the Texas Medical Association and the National Physicians' Council for Healthcare Policy sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) asking him to delay the ICD-10 implementation until October 2017.

The groups urged Boehner to work with House Rules Committee Chair Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.) "to have this [delay] added to a must-pass piece of legislation during the upcoming Lame Duck Session in 2014."

Instead, a continuing resolution omnibus spending bill, or "cromnibus," to fund most of the federal government failed to contain language delaying ICD-10. The House narrowly approved the bill on Dec. 11.

Upton and Sessions said the House Energy and Commerce Committee "has been working with CMS to ensure the Oct. 1, 2015, implementation is achieved" and acknowledged they have heard from several stakeholders concerned about the industry's readiness to comply with ICD-10 and thanked those groups and individuals "for opening up this dialogue and expressing their thoughts and concerns regarding this issue."

The lawmakers said they are prepared to hold a congressional hearing on ICD-10 implementation progress in the new year. "It is our priority to ensure that we continue to move forward in healthcare technology and do so in a way that addresses the concerns of all those affected and ensure that the system works."