Reminder: ICD-10 Testing Begins Jan 2011
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a reminder to healthcare providers, health plans, clearinghouses and vendors about the approaching compliance dates for ICD-10, the new generation of diagnosis and procedure codes and updated standards for electronic health care transactions.
Beginning in January 2011, entities covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) should be ready to test with their trading partners the functionality of the entities’ practice management and/or other related software featuring Version 5010 standards.
Use of the Version 5010 standards for HIPAA electronic healthcare transactions, including claims, remittance advice, eligibility inquiries, referral authorization and other administrative transactions, will be mandatory on Jan. 1, 2012. The Version 5010 standards also provide the framework needed for use of the revised medical data code sets (ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS), that must be implemented on Oct. 1, 2013.
To help healthcare providers, health plans, clearinghouses and vendors work toward the compliance dates for Version 5010 and ICD-10 — and avoid delays in claims processing and payment — CMS has been conducting ongoing industry outreach and education, and, most notably, has revised its ICD-10 Web site.
All of the information is free and can be downloaded from http://www.cms.gov/ICD10.
Read the CMS news release.
Note: The CMS is hosting a conference call onSeptember 13 about the transition to ICD-10 and version 5010. Read more.