ICD-10 Delay Passes US Senate
April 1, 2014At 6:59 pm ET on Monday, March 31, the United States Senate passed HR 4302, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, 64-35. If signed as expected into law by President Obama, then this bill will delay ICD-10 and shift required implementation from October 1, 2014 to as early as October 1, 2015. The act also extends the “doc fix” for Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) payments for a year.
The bill was rapidly introduced to the House of Representatives on Thursday, March 27th, for vote. After a voice vote passage, it moved to the Senate for today’s vote. Primary arguments cited for delaying the ICD-10 implementation included lack of readiness surrounding clinical documentation, vendor solutions, and systems testing.