Endocrine Insider
January 23, 2009 

As a result of comments provided by The Endocrine Society and other medical specialties on the difficulty of quickly implementing the new International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition (ICD-10) coding system, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced in its final rule that it will delay implementation of the system. The delay will help to ensure that ICD-10, which is used to code inpatient and outpatient medical diagnoses, is ready for use across the U.S. medical community.

In the agency’s proposed rule, both ICD-10 and HIPAA transaction standards x12 version 5010 (version 5010), which are to replace the outdated ICD-9 coding system, were to be operational by October 2011.  In the January 16 Federal Register, CMS’ final rule on the ICD-10 and version 5010 proposals pushed back the compliance date for version 5010 from October 2011 to January 2012, and the implementation date for ICD-10 from October 2011 to October 2013. The delayed implementation will allow providers, health plans, and CMS more time to appropriately test the new system and plan for a smooth transition.