Reimbursement Briefs: AMA Wants ICD-10 Halt; News From CMS, AHRQ And OIG

The American Medical Association pressed HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a Feb. 12 letterto repeal mandatory adoption of the greatly expanded reimbursement coding system, called ICD-10, citing new implementation cost estimates. Under current regulations, the health care industry must replace the current system of the International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition, ICD-9, with the 10th edition by Oct. 1, 2014. The system will bring an almost 10-fold increase in the codes Medicare and other insurers have at their disposal to classify health care items and services. But AMA now says the transition costs for providers will be too high.

An updated cost study initiated by the AMA and conducted by consulting firm Nachimson Advisors LLC has found that in some cases, the estimated ICD-10 implementation costs are...