The association is of the opinion that the government should estimate the complete impact of the huge code sets before making them compulsory
In a May 10th letter to the CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), the American Medical Association (AMA) called for a delay to the transition to ICD-10 code sets for physician service billing by at least two years instead of one. The letter comes after the agency supervising the switch over to the new codes has planned a one-year postponement from October 1, 2013 to Oct 1, 2014.
A Complete Cost Benefit Assessment is Essential
In his letter regarding the planned one year delay, James L. Madara, MD, the AMA Executive CEO and Vice President wrote that a complete cost assessment on the financial and administrative effects of the transition is required. The AMA also desires the CMS to give more time to assess whether a substitute code set is more suitable than a complete changeover to the approximately 68, 000 ICD-10 codes.
However, in an April 24th letter, AHIMA stated that the nation would have to continue on a recognized time line to make the move towards application of the new code sets. They also stated that till the code sets are enforced, US health information would continue to decline at a time when more and more data dependent healthcare ventures were targeted at enhancing value.
A Professional Healthcare BPO Company Can Help
To make the transition over to the new coding system easier, consider getting help from an established and reliable medical coding and billing company.
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