Senate passed SGR patch and ICD-10 One Year Delay
The Senate passed legislation (H.R. 4302), which delays for one year a 24% cut to Medicare physician payments resulting from the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The legislation also pushed the ICD-10 compliance deadline to October 1, 2015. The SGR legislation provisions were:
- Extends the 1.0 work Geographic Practice Cost Index (GPCI) floor and therapy cap exceptions process for one year
- Delays the transition to ICD-10 for at least one year
- Creates new Medicare policies for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests
- Puts in place “appropriate use” criteria for certain imaging services
- Creates a new process for identifying “misvalued codes” in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
For more information, access the legislation available here.
CMS finalizes one-year ICD-10 delay
Today the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized its proposal to delay ICD-10 one year from Oct. 2013 to Oct. 2014. The one-year delay of ICD-10 is in response to continued concerns from providers, payers and facilities that adoption of the new code set will prove extremely challenging to physician practices, facilities and payers alike. CMS has mandated this new code set without having done the necessary due diligence to ensure that healthcare entities will not experience debilitating cash-flow disruptions, due to its implementation.
The rule also finalizes a plan to implement a national health plan identifier, required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.
For more information see the CMS press release.
