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Date changes announced for 5010 and ICD-10 compliance, Stage 2
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by Jeff Grant
This article was published as part of a blog series on electronic health records and the optometric practice.
On March 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of E-Health Standards and Services said it will not initiate enforcement action against any noncompliant entities for an additional 3 months, through June 30, 2012, for updated HIPAA transaction standards (5010).
On Nov. 17, 2011, the Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS) announced that, for a 90-day period, it would not initiate enforcement action against any covered entity that was not compliant with the updated versions of the standards by the Jan. 1, 2012 compliance date. This was referred to as enforcement discretion and, during this period, covered entities were encouraged to complete outstanding implementation activities including software installation, testing and training.
Health plans, clearinghouses, providers and software vendors have been making steady progress: the Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) program is currently reporting successful receipt and processing of more than 70% of all Part A claims and more than 90% of all Part B claims in the Version 5010 format. Commercial plans are reporting similar numbers. State Medicaid agencies are showing progress as well, and some have made a full transition to Version 5010.
Covered entities are making similar progress with 5010. At the same time, OESS is aware that there are still a number of outstanding issues and challenges impeding full implementation. OESS believes that these remaining issues warrant an extension of enforcement discretion to ensure that all entities can complete the transition. OESS expects that transition statistics will reach 98% industry-wide by the end of the enforcement discretion period.
I previously reported on that HHS had announced that the October 2013 implementation deadline for ICD-10 was going to be delayed beyond that date. As of this time, we still don’t have any further direction from HHS on a new implementation deadline.
Finally, I previously reported that Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use included a proposal to delay Stage 2 until 2014 (instead of the original requirement that Stage 2 be implemented in 2013). The Final Rule should be released in June or July and we'll know if this requirement is alerted at all from the NPRM. Because this delay has been endorsed by all the key players at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information and Technology and CMS, there's little doubt that it will be included in the Final Rule.
I'm glad to see the feds recognizing that practices can only handle so much at one time. With their push for practices to get EHR implemented (a great idea), it is impossible to expect medical practices to take on so many other changes and requirements at the same time.