CMS Promotes ICD-10 Readiness with More End-to-End Testing
By - There are 142 days left until the International Classification of Diseases – ICD-10 – compliance. What’s next? More Medicare end-to-end testing efforts, says The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
CMS has announced via email announcement a final opportunity for a sampling of volunteers to conduct ICD-10 end-to-end testing. From July 20 through July 24, 2015, the sample group will conduct testing with Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and the Common Electronic Data Interchange (CEDI) contractor.
CMS states it will receive additional volunteers even earlier, from today, May 11, through May 22, 2015. Those testers participating in January and April testing do not need to reapply to test again in July.
Regarding the July ICD-10 end-to-end testing, CMS confirms almost 850 volunteers will be chosen to contribute their efforts. Says CMS, “This nationwide sample will yield meaningful results, since CMS intends to select volunteers representing a broad cross-section of provider, claim, and submitter types, including claims clearinghouses that submit claims for large numbers of providers.”
Issues that arise during testing will be addressed before the October 1, 2015 ICD-10 implementation date, CMS states. Educational materials will be created for providers and submitters according to the testing results conducted so such information can be dispersed accordingly.
Topics to be included are implementation guidance, information on the new classification system, coding examples, Medicare community preparation, and payment impact estimation. Selected testers must provide a variety of information, including future-dated claims, valid National Provider Identifiers (NPIs), Provider Transaction Access Numbers (PTANs), and beneficiary Health Insurance Claim Numbers (HICNSs) by the deadline to avoid being dropped.
In tangent with CMS’ efforts, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) has additionally created a searchable database to either anonymously or non-anonymously report ICD-10 issues.
Is ICD-10 end-to-end-testing meaningful?
Despite CMS' praise for ICD-10 end-to-end-testing efforts, there is some skepticism regarding the overall effectiveness of testing. Over half of healthcare providers state they are most concerned about ICD-10 negatively impacting their revenue cycles and cash flow. Regardless, end-to-end testing remains a top priority for payers and providers. CMS announced late last year end-to-end testing yielded “successful acknowledgement testing” with a 76 percent acceptance rate. It is hopeful favorable results will occur in the immediate future.
For more information, consider learning more about CMS’ top dispelled myths about ICD-10 implementation.
