MU, ICD-10 in the headlines again
Meaningful Use and ICD-10 dominated the headlines again this week. It seems this could be the case most weeks this year.
In the wake of an indictment of a hospital executive for false Meaningful Use (MU) attestation, the House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to investigate how the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awards funds to hospitals that attest to MU and what guidelines have been issued to prevent fraud and abuse of the program.
Meanwhile, the American Medical Association is continuing its efforts to derail ICD-10 implementation. The organization released a cost study that estimates moving to the new coding system will cost physicians “dramatically” more than previously estimated. The estimated costs are nearly triple what had been predicted by a 2008 study.
AMA again sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking her to reconsider the ICD-10 mandate and launched a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #StopICD10.
Is your organization on track for ICD-10 implementation or are you hoping the AMA is successful in its bid for another delay?
Beth Walsh
Clinical Innovation + Technology editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.