by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | March 28, 2012
From the March 2012 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
As you're probably aware, during February's American Medical Association's conference in Washington D.C., the acting Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, Marilyn Tavenner, announced that the government would consider extending the Oct. 13 2012 deadline for the upgrade to ICD-10. Since that announcement, the deadline extension has been confirmed, although no firm date has been set. The original deadline of October, 2011 was extended after providers voiced concerns during a public comment period in 2008.
Although a second extension provides a welcome relief for practitioners already burdened with a flood of developments delivered by health care reform, one wonders if it would just be better to rip off the Band-Aid now. Yes, more time gives the opportunity to get things in order. But more time also provides the chance for further developments to crop up - increasing the burden.
I would hope CMS takes a hard look at Europe's adoption of ICD-10 to determine how great the benefit would be to our own health care system. As European health care practices have been using ICD-10 for years already, there should be a wealth of information on its return. Obviously, the greater the return, the greater the argument for pushing forward with current deadlines. Conversely, minimal benefit should translate into possibly keeping the Band-Aid on and sticking to other deadlines with bigger payoffs. It should be interesting to watch how this plays out.
In other developments to follow, DOTmed Business News is now available as a free app in Apple's iTunes Store. We're very proud to offer the magazine to iPad users and we welcome feedback on your experience with our magazine in that digital format. Of course, our print offering will continue to be delivered and in this issue we deliver industry sector reports on endoscopy updates, the evolving OR suite, safer anesthesia delivery devices and the latest on sterilizers.
We also reveal the DOTmed 100 for 2012 and have a chat with AORN president Anne Marie Herlehy.
As always, feedback, story ideas and any other
suggestions are welcome.
