ICD-10 Transition Postponed to October 2015

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last month announced in a final rule that October 1, 2015, is the new date by which physicians are expected to use the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) for diagnosis coding.

It marks the second postponement of the deadline for compliance with ICD-10; the original date had been October 1, 2013, later pushed back to October 1, 2014.

Importantly for psychiatrists, the new DSM-5 contains all of the information needed to assign HIPAA-compliant, valid ICD-10-CM codes to psychiatric diagnoses. DSM-5 contains both ICD-9-CM codes for immediate use and ICD-10-CM codes in parentheses. No “crosswalk” is necessary, and clinicians will not need to purchase a new DSM 5 when the conversion to ICD-10 occurs.

The inclusion of ICD-10-CM codes facilitates use of the new coding system for all U.S. health care providers and systems. This feature will eliminate the need for separate training on ICD-10-CM codes for mental disorders that is now being offered for all other diseases/disorders by other medical societies and vendors to prepare for the 2015 implementation.

“We are expecting that the impact on most psychiatrists will be eased by the inclusion of ICD-10-CM codes and coding instructions in the DSM-5,” said William Narrow, M.D., acting director of APA’s Division of Research.

In the CMS announcement published in the August 4 Federal Register, the agency explained the rationale for conversion to ICD-10. “ICD-10 provides greater specificity of diagnosis-related groups; improves quality measurement and reporting capabilities; improves tracking of illnesses; and reflects greater accuracy of reimbursement for medical services,” the agency said. “ICD-10’s granularity will improve data capture and analytics of public health surveillance and reporting, national quality reporting, research and data analysis, and provide detailed data to inform health care delivery and health policy decisions.”

However, the AMA is continuing to push for delay in implementation of ICD-10, saying it is costly and creates an enormous administrative burden for physicians. It has also urged CMS to conduct “end-to-end” testing, allowing physicians to ascertain for themselves whether their claims were processed.

Information about DSM-5 and the transition to ICD-10 can be accessed here. ■