Changes to the Laboratory National Coverage Determination (NCD) Software

The Laboratory National Coverage Determination (NCD) Edit Software will be updated to continue the processing of the ICD-9 diagnosis codes. On April 1, 2014, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA) was enacted, which said that the Secretary may not adopt ICD-10 prior to October 1, 2015. Accordingly, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expects to release an interim final rule in the near future that will include a new compliance date that would require the use of ICD-10 beginning October 1, 2015. The rule will also require HIPAA covered entities to continue to use ICD-9-CM through September 30, 2015.