Will Your ICD-10 Claims Be Accepted? CMS Designates Testing Weeks

A year ahead of the Oct. 1, 2015, compliance deadline for implementing the ICD-10 code set, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced three weeks that will be dedicated to helping physicians test whether their claims will be accepted in the Medicare claims processing system.

While you should be able to begin testing with your Medicare Administrative Contractor as soon as your practice is ready, CMS has designated three testing weeks that will be focused on acknowledgment testing of ICD-10 claims:

Nov. 17-21, 2014
March 2-6, 2015
June 1-5, 2015

Participation in testing will help your practice determine its readiness for this portion of ICD-10 implementation and provide data for CMS’ own preparation for industry-wide use of the code set.

Real-time help desk support will be available during these weeks, and more information will be posted on CMS’ website and the website of each Medicare Administrative Contractor as these testing periods approach.

The acknowledgement testing weeks also are open to billing services and clearinghouses. If your practice uses one of these services, you should check with that group to learn whether it will be participating.

Although acknowledgement testing is important for identifying any issues with claims being accepted by Medicare, you will not be able to test the complete processing of the claim or determine final payment at this time.

The AMA continues to urge regulators to ease the burden of ICD-10 implementation on physicians, citing dramatic implementation costs coupled with an already onerous regulatory environment. However, practice management experts caution that physicians now should begin preparing their practices for the transition to ICD-10.

To help with the testing process, the AMA has developed an ICD-10 data file available on CD-ROM or via immediate download. Additional information and resources to help you get ready for ICD-10 are available on the AMA ICD-10 Web page.