Lessons
Learned:
Reflections
on CMS
and the
Successful
Implementation
of ICD-10
By
CMS Acting
Administrator
Andy Slavitt
It
was early
2015 and
we had
just gotten
through
a second
successful
season
with HealthCare.gov,
the turnaround
that originally
brought
me into
government,
when the
articles
and letters
started
flying
on our
next big
implementation
– one
that would
affect
nearly
every
physician
and hospital
in the
country.
And, anxiety
levels
were high.
On
October
1, 2015,
the U.S.
health
care system
transitioned
the way
patient
visits
are coded
from ICD-9
to the
next version
ICD-10,
a system
which
sets the
stage
for meaningful
improvements
in public
health.
If people
know about
ICD-10
at all
– and
chances
are they
don’t
– it’s
probably
from press
reports
about
the more
colorful
diagnostic
codes
like “other
contact
with shark”
or “burn
due to
water-skis
on fire,
subsequent
encounter.”
More seriously,
for people
in the
health
care industry,
it was
being
compared
to Y2K,
a transition
with the
potential
to create
chaos
in the
health
care system.
One
representative
from the
physician
community
told me
that he
was concerned
that half
of physicians
in the
country
wouldn’t
be ready
by the
October
1 date.
The thought
of physicians
in small,
rural
practices
unable
to run
their
practices
had my
complete
attention.
It also
brought
home that
we are
responsible
for more
and increasingly
complex
implementations
– from
HealthCare.gov
to ICD-10
to new
physician
payment
systems.
As
I look
to the
future,
great
implementation
is even
more central
to life
at CMS.
In
my time
in D.C.,
I’ve come
to see
our role
as implementing
policies
in a way
that bring
them to
the kitchen
table
of the
American
family
and to
the clinics
and facilities
where
they receive
care.
Implementation
in this
context
is a vital
responsibility.
And there
are millions
of Americans
that count
on us
to do
it well:
the senior
filling
his prescription;
the trustee
of the
community
hospital;
the parents
of a child
with disabilities
in need
of home
resources;
the doctor
who drives
for miles
to take
care of
her patients
in several
rural
communities.
Read
the full
blog at
CMS.gov. |
