CMS appoints ICD-10 ombudsman

CMS appoints ICD-10 ombudsman

The director of the CMS Physicians Regulatory Issues Team, William Rogers, MD, will act as ICD-10 point person

William Rogers, MD, director of the Physicians Regulatory Issues Team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will act as ICD-10 ombudsman to the federal agency, acting CMS administrator Andy Slavitt announced Thursday.

Rogers, a practicing physician at Georgetown University Hospital, will help address concerns from healthcare professionals after the new diagnostic code library goes live on Oct. 1. He will work out of an ICD-10 coordination center in Baltimore that will be set up at the end of September, Slavitt said. Rogers can be reached at ICD10_ombudsman@CMS.HHS.gov.

Implementation of ICD-10 is only 34 days away, Slavitt reminded providers, physicians and coders during a “Countdown to ICD-10” forum held Thursday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“While we’ve seen it coming for awhile, it’s almost here,” said Slavitt.

Starting Oct. 1, CMS will not accept ICD-9 codes for dates of service after September 30.

While CMS has said it will not deny claims as long as the right code family is used, the agency will not send back a message if the wrong code is used.

As for the potential backlog and its effect on claim reimbursement, CMS said there should be no delay in the standard turnaround time of 14 days for electronic, and 29 for paper records.

“While we encourage coding to correct specificity, flexibility covers the 12 months after implementation,” said Chief of Staff Mandy Cohen.

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