Another patch and more time to prepare for ICD-10

Following up last week's post, the Senate approved and the president signed a House bill that prevents steep cuts to Medicare physician payments from going into effect for one year. The bill (now law) also delays the conversion to ICD-10 diagnostic and procedure codes for at least one year.

The measure calls for a 0.5 percent increase in physician payments through Dec. 31, 2014, and no change from Jan. 1 through March 31, 2015. That means is that it will be another year before you have to worry about a potential cut in the Medicare physician payment rate. It also means that Congress has additional time to pass a permanent repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate that has led to the current predicament. Such action in advance of the mid-term elections seems unlikely, however, given the current lack of agreement on how to pay for repeal.

On the plus side, the delay in ICD-10 does give physicians more time to prepare for that change, which will now occur on Oct. 1, 2015 (or later). Until then, everyone will continue to use ICD-9 codes. That said, you shouldn't use the delay in implementation as an excuse to delay preparation. Physicians, payers, and other users of ICD-10 should continue to move forward with preparation wherever they are in the process, and AAFP has resources to help its members do just that.

– Kent Moore, Senior Strategist for Physician Payment for the American Academy of Family Physicians