AMA updates policies on ICD-10, EHR incentive program

During its 2012 Interim Meeting held in Honolulu, Nov. 10-13, the American Medical Association’s (AMA) House of Delegates covered several health IT topics, including ICD-10 and the EHR incentive program.

The delegates discussed a resolution to bypass ICD-10 and instead wait for the adoption of ICD-11, working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to transition directly to ICD-11 on Oct. 17, 2017.

ICD-10 creates "unnecessary" and significant financial and workflow disruptions for physicians, especially at a time when physicians are in various stages of trying to implement EHRs into their practices, according to the minutes. Some cautioned that the AMA should not endorse ICD-11 until further details of the system are revealed. The AMA Board of Trustees is currently evaluating the feasibility of moving directly from ICD-9 to ICD-11 and will report on its findings at the 2013 annual meeting.

Another resolution asks the AMA to take immediate action to seek support for federal legislation to repeal the penalties in the HITECH Act for physicians who do not adopt EHRs or do not meet criteria for Meaningful Use.

The group discussed amending its resolution regarding the EHR incentive program to say that the AMA will seek support for legislation to remove penalties for non-compliance and provide inflation-adjusted funds to cover all costs of implementation and maintenance of EHR systems. Further, the AMA supports the concept of e-prescribing, as well as the offering of financial and other incentives for its adoption, but seeks support for legislation to remove the current funding structure that financially penalizes physicians that have not adopted such technology.

The group called for the AMA to work with government and software developers so that EHR implementation payments are based on actual costs rather than a government estimate; and no penalties are applied to providers that do not adopt EHRs. AMA supports further studies into “what constitutes a truly utilitarian EHR with a goal of decreasing complexity, increasing efficiency and decreasing the amount of data required by government and insurance companies.”

The AMA Reference Committee “whole-heartedly agrees that EHR penalties should not be imposed on physicians, and believes that existing AMA policy strongly expresses that penalties should be removed from these programs, that positive incentives are needed, and that funds should be provided to physicians to cover all costs of implementation and maintenance of EHR systems.”