WEDI Proposes Aggressive Transition Roadmap in Letter to HHS

The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), a nonprofit authority on the use of HIT to create efficiencies in health care information exchange, submitted a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) outlining a high-level ICD-10 transition roadmap. The letter, written in response to the recent one year ICD-10 delay mandated by the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, details the impact of the postponement on health care stakeholders and defines recommended action steps to minimize continued disruption to the health care industry.

In the letter, several action steps are detailed including the following:

• ensure Medicare and Medicaid readiness transparency;
• expedite, supporting and expanding industry testing;
• expand provider education and support;
• target outreach to noncovered entities;
• conduct or support limited pilots; and
• establish clear milestones and track readiness.

“WEDI and our industry partners believe that these recommendations provide a framework that we can work towards in order to ensure the successful ICD-10 transition,” says Devin Jopp, EdD, WEDI president and CEO. “It is critical that HHS work with private industry to establish credibility in a new compliance date by focusing on critical issues such as readiness transparency, comprehensive testing, and augmented education. Absent these actions, we are concerned that implementation of the code sets will continue to be protracted, adding needless administrative burden and cost to the industry.”

In development of the ICD-10 Transition Roadmap, WEDI convened an industry ICD-10 Summit on April 30, 2014 in Reston, Virginia, that featured participation of more than 200 industry stakeholders. The summit was a collaborative event cosponsored by the Professional Association of Healthcare Office Management, HIMSS, and AAPC.

Source: The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange