The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Wednesday it would conduct end-to-end testing of ICD-10 with a sample group of physicians this summer in response to a letter from the AMA urging further consideration of the code set.
CMS is offering an official ICD-10 testing week March 3-7, but this testing won’t go beyond confirming that a claim was received. End-to-end testing would include the submission of test claims to CMS with ICD-10 codes and the physician’s receipt of remittance advice that explains the adjudication of the claims.
Earlier this month, the AMA sent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a letter calling for reconsideration of the mandated transition to the new code set by Oct. 1. The letter also urged CMS to conduct end-to-end testing with at least 100 different physician practices of varying sizes and specialties.
“We believe end-to-end testing is essential for ensuring the health care industry will not suffer massive disruptions in claims and payment processing and ultimately risk physicians’ ability to care for their patients,” the letter states.
In response, CMS has said it will offer end-to-end testing to a “small sample group” of physicians who will be “selected to represent a broad cross-section of provider types, claims types and submitter types.” No further details about this testing process are available yet.
“While the AMA is pleased by the federal government’s decision to conduct end-to-end ICD-10 testing, the AMA continues to urge CMS to reconsider the ICD-10 mandate during a time when physicians are struggling to keep up with many other costly, federal mandates,” AMA President Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, said in a statement.
The AMA further called on CMS to conduct the end-to-end testing as soon as possible and to ensure that the sample includes an adequate sample of both varying practice sizes and specialties so the testing results are an accurate reflection of preparedness.”
According to a study released last week by the AMA, costs to implement ICD-10 could be nearly three times more than previous estimates, with specialty practices estimated to see the highest implementation costs.
The AMA also continues to urge lawmakers to stop implementation of the code set. Physicians can ask their members of Congress to co-sponsor legislation to stop ICD-10 implementation, known as the Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2013, by sending an email through the AMA’s Physician Grassroots Network.
In the meantime, physicians can ready their practices for the new code set with practical insights from free educational resources from the AMA. Additional training opportunities and products are available from the AMA Store.
