State medical societies on ICD-10: 'Looming disaster'

The four largest state medical societies have come together to warn the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that the Oct. 1 ICD-10 implementation deadline is a “looming disaster.”

The medical societies of California, New York, Florida and Texas said denied and delayed claims could cause financial disaster, even bankruptcy, for many small physician practices.

In a letter to Acting CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt, the societies wrote that even the most prepared physician practices are working through the “confusion and reduced productivity they expect to accompany ICD-10.” Because of the potential for practices to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, the medical societies said many of their members would continue working to stop or delay the transition to ICD-10.

The letter included the following recommendations: 

• A two-year period during which physicians will not be penalized for errors, mistakes and/or malfunctions of the system;
• A two-year period in which physicians will not be subject to Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) audits related to ICD-10 coding mistakes;
• A two-year period during which physician payments will not be reduced or withheld based on ICD-10 coding mistakes; and
• Advance payments in the event that claims are delayed.

“We remain steadfast in our belief that the ICD-10 coding system offers no real advantages to physicians and our patients—and certainly no advantages to justify the time and expense the entire healthcare system has invested in this transition,” according to the letter to CMS. “Even if ICD-10 were ‘the best thing since sliced bread,’ its forced implementation would not be worth the extensive disruptions in patient care that surely will come without the grace period.”