November 02, 2015
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ICD-10 process going smoothly, CMS says

A month into the transition from ICD-9 physician practice codes to ICD-10, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported that the process is moving along smoothly.

On Oct. 1, health systems across the country transitioned to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. The change had been delayed a year after the American Medical Association complained to Congress that practice groups needed more time.

“CMS has been carefully monitoring the transition and is pleased to report that claims are processing normally. Generally speaking, Medicare claims take several days to be processed and, once processed, Medicare must—by law—wait two weeks before issuing a payment. Medicaid claims can take up to 30 days to be submitted and processed by states,” CMS wrote in a statement.

The agency had told physicians and their practices that they would get leniency during the early days of the transition if the code were from the correct “family” of codes. But the agency says most physicians have done a good job (see Fig. 1). -by Mark Neumann

ICD-10