AMA backs bill to kill ICD-10
The American Medical Association has thrown its weight behind legislation proposed a few weeks ago that would stop ICD-10 from ever seeing the light of day.
The endorsement came by way of a letter from AMA’s CEO, James Madara, MD, to Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), who introduced the bill.
“The timing of the ICD-10 transition could not be worse as many physicians are currently spending significant time and resources implementing electronic health records into their practices and adopting new payment and delivery models,” wrote Madara in a document dated May 14. “Managing the change to ICD-10 at the same time as these care innovations may force physicians to choose to update their code set in order to get paid over improving the quality of patient care.”
The bill, Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2015, may now be more likely to come up for consideration in committee hearings.
Then again, maybe not.
In February, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, chaired by Joseph Pitts (R-Penn.), showed bipartisan unity in backing the transition from ICD-9 to -10 without further delay.
“The United States is one of the few countries that has yet to adopt this most modern coding system,” said Energy and Commerce chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.).
The AMA letter is posted online (PDF).
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.