The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, a Chicago-based health information advocacy group, wrote HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner urging they maintain the Oct. 1, 2014, deadline for nationwide ICD-10 adoption.
The letter's authors, Chairwoman Willa Field and CEO H. Steven Lieber, called upon the officials to "give a strong message to the industry that ICD-10 has already been thoroughly vetted" and that further delay will be detrimental to hospitals and other providers that have begun implementation.
"By all accounts, further delay in implementing ICD-10 will result in billions of dollars in lost investment for those who have been preparing for ICD-10 nationwide implementation, and the eventual upgrading of the nation's medical coding standard will cost billions of dollars more the longer we wait," the authors wrote.
Opponents of ICD-10, such as the American Medical Association, have said the shift and infrastructure of ICD-10 will be a financial and administrative burden.
Evaluate ICD-10 Transition Plans to Account for Payors, Vendors
Providers Should Plan for Unforeseen Costs of ICD-10
The letter's authors, Chairwoman Willa Field and CEO H. Steven Lieber, called upon the officials to "give a strong message to the industry that ICD-10 has already been thoroughly vetted" and that further delay will be detrimental to hospitals and other providers that have begun implementation.
"By all accounts, further delay in implementing ICD-10 will result in billions of dollars in lost investment for those who have been preparing for ICD-10 nationwide implementation, and the eventual upgrading of the nation's medical coding standard will cost billions of dollars more the longer we wait," the authors wrote.
Opponents of ICD-10, such as the American Medical Association, have said the shift and infrastructure of ICD-10 will be a financial and administrative burden.
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