By Kelly A. Briganti, Editorial Director, G2 Intelligence
Ready, set, go. ICD-10 implementation finally becomes a reality this Thursday on October 1, 2015. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ ICD-10 Ombudsman Dr. Bill Rogers issued a press release last week heralding the event and praising ICD-10 as a resource to help better identify and treat patients’ medical issues, coordinate care, and “support new payment methods that drive quality of care.”
While many may be skeptical, CMS promises it is ready for implementation of ICD-10 technologically speaking and will be monitoring their systems so the ICD-10 Coordination Center can address any glitches. “As we come to October 1st, CMS wants to assure the medical community that we’ve tested and retested our systems, and we’re prepared to solve problems that may come up,” said Rogers.
He also reminded providers that there is still time to transition to ICD-10 and listed the resources available to help with the transition, including:
- Road to 10 webpage (offering webcasts, planning tools, FAQs, videos and a template library)
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CMS’ gov/ICD10 home page (providing the latest news about ICD-10 including the guidance issued this past summer about flexibility regarding claim denials during the transition, FAQs, a Quick Start Guide, and links to other ICD-10 resources for providers, payers and vendors)
- Medicare Administrative Contractors (Providers are urged to contact their MAC first for customer service support)
- ICD-10 Coordination Center (Providers should email the center with questions to icd10@cms.hhs.gov)
- ICD-10 Ombudsman (who advocates for providers and can be contacted at icd10_ombudsman@cms.hhs.gov).