Volunteers wanted for ICD-10 testing in January 2015

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to hold a week-long test early next year of the new ICD-10 coding that goes into effect next October. And the agency is looking for test subjects.

During the week of Jan. 26-30, 2015, a sample group of physicians and other Medicare providers will participate in the end-to-end testing with Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and the Common Electronic Data Interchange (CEDI) contractor.

CMS plans to select approximately 850 volunteer submitters to participate in the test. It wants volunteers representing a broad cross-section of provider, claim, and submitter types, including claims clearinghouses that submit claims for large numbers of providers.

To volunteer as a testing submitter, you will need to complete a volunteer form by Oct. 3, 2014. Volunteer forms are available on your MAC website. CMS will review the applications, and the MACs and CEDI will notify the selected volunteers by Oct. 24, providing them with the information needed for the testing.

Additional opportunities for end-to-end testing will be available in 2015. CMS has indicated that it will address any issues identified during testing prior to ICD-10 implementation and that it will develop educational materials for providers and submitters based on the testing results. For more information, see the Medicare Learning Network article “Medicare FFS ICD-10 Testing Approach.”

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