HHS Announces Intent to Delay ICD-10 Compliance Date
As part of President Obama’s commitment to reducing regulatory burden, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen G. Sebelius today announced that HHS will initiate a process to postpone the date by which certain health care entities have to comply with International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition diagnosis and procedure codes (ICD-10).
The final rule adopting ICD-10 as a standard was published in January 2009 and set a compliance date of October 1, 2013 – a delay of two years from the compliance date initially specified in the 2008 proposed rule. HHS will announce a new compliance date moving forward.
”ICD-10 codes are important to many positive improvements in our health care system,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “We have heard from many in the provider community who have concerns about the administrative burdens they face in the years ahead. We are committing to work with the provider community to reexamine the pace at which HHS and the nation implement these important improvements to our health care system.”
New Strategy Aims To Ensure Postoperative Evaluations
From Anesthesia News, October issue by Lynne Peeples
Despite regulatory guidelines that require them, postoperative anesthesia evaluations are often neglected. Ambiguity may arise over which clinician is responsible or patients simply may be hard to track down—either having been discharged without an overnight stay or detained in the physical therapy or radiology departments.
However, a new approach involving an electronic database and a designated resident may help ensure that the potential timesaving, cost-saving and lifesaving evaluations are actually performed. The study is scheduled to be presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in San Diego (abstract 1307).
