Whether or not clinicians are ready to for the ICD-10 transition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services says it is ready to receive and process ICD-10 claims after a third and final round of end-to-end testing yielded no new issues and resolutions to previous problems in the early-testing rounds.
Participants in the testing agree the agency appears ready for the Oct. 1 transition date, and offer advice to clinicians to help make the transition a smooth one.
Meanwhile, providers are encouraged to look carefully at new data-reporting requirements in the proposed 2016 Medicare physician fee schedule update. Comments on the proposal are due to CMS on Sept. 8.
Another area for clinicians to keep an eye on is the coming test for Value-based Insurance Design (VBID) that CMS is launching. It is targeting Medicare Advantage plans in seven states during the 5-year test beginning in January 2017. Plans will be given plan design flexibility across a number of chronic conditions to see if they can encourage higher quality and more cost-efficient care. The American Medical Association is urging providers to be active participants in VBID to ensure plan designs reflect the best clinical practices and do not limit patient access to necessary care.
To hear all of this and to learn about HHS’ plans to curb transgender discrimination in the health care system, listen to this week’s Policy & Practice Podcast.