ICD-10 Precursor Delayed Again

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced (warning: PDF) that once again, it would delay the date on which it will begin enforcement of compliance with the 5010 standard, an ICD-10 prerequisite.  The initial compliance date was January 1, 2012.  CMS announced back in November that it would delay enforcement until March 31, 2012.

Now, CMS will not enforce compliance with 5010 until June 30, 2012.  Recognizing numerous outstanding issues with compliance, CMS decided on another delay.

These delays affect the switch to ICD-10 because 5010 is a prerequisite standard to ICD-10.

Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services or HHS (of which CMS is a part) decided already to initiate a process to delay the switch to ICD-10.  The continued delays in 5010 give some indication of how long the switch to ICD-10 will be delayed, but we hope HHS sees the light and cancels the switch to ICD-10 altogether.