HHS Delays ICD-10 Compliance Date

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is postponing the date set for certain healthcare entities to comply with International Classifications of Diseases (10th edition) diagnosis and procedure codes (ICD-10). ICD-10 codes, which will be required of entities covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, provide more robust and specific data to help improve patient care and enable the exchange of healthcare data with other countries that have long been using ICD-10 codes. However, according to HHS Secretary Kathleen G. Sebelius, the department has “heard from many in the provider community who have concerns about the administrative burdens they face in the years ahead.” So, it is working with the “provider community to re-examine the pace at which HHS and the nation implement these important improvements” to the healthcare system. The final rule adopting ICD-10 as a standard was published in January 2009, which set a compliance date of Oct. 1, 2013, a delay of two years from the compliance date initially specified in the 2008 proposed rule. On April 17, HHS published a proposed rule that covered entities must be in compliance with ICD-10 on October 1, 2014.