(08/19/2008)-The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a long-awaited proposal to adopt the ICD-10 code sets and updated electronic transaction standards. The expanded ICD-10 would replace the ICD-9-CM code sets now used to report audiology, speech-language pathology, and other health care diagnoses and procedures, effective October 1, 2011.
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said, "The greatly expanded ICD-10 code sets will enable HHS to fully support quality reporting, pay-for-performance, bio-surveillance, and other critical activities. Conversion to ICD-10 is essential to development of a nationwide electronic health information environment, and the updated X12 transaction standards are a critical step in the implementation of these new codes."
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the ICD-9 is widely viewed as outdated because of its limited ability to accommodate new procedures and diagnoses. The ICD-9 contains only 17,000 codes and is expected to start running out of available codes next year. By contrast, the ICD-10 code sets contain more than 155,000 codes and accommodate a host of new diagnoses and procedures. CMS Acting Administrator stated, "We recognize that the transition to ICD-10 will require some upfront costs, but each year of delay would create additional costs, both because of the limitations of ICD-9 and because of the need to employ the greater precision that ICD-10 codes provide to support value-based purchasing of health care and other initiatives. We will continue to work collaboratively across the health care system to ensure a smooth transition for use of the updated transaction standards and ICD-10."
The ICD-10 code sets proposed rule would concurrently adopt the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) for diagnosis coding, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) for inpatient hospital procedure coding. The new codes would replace the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) Volumes 1 and 2, and the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (CM) Volume 3 for diagnosis and procedure codes, respectively.
ASHA will be commenting on the proposal to ensure that the ASHA-proposed audiology and speech-language pathology diagnostic codes adopted in the last two years will be included in the ICD-10-CM. For questions or further information, please contact reimbursement@asha.org.
Taken from www.asha.org/about/legislation
