Legislation Delays ICD-10 Transition and extends “Doc Fix”

Congress Passes Twelve Month “Doc Fix”:

The United States Congress has just passed H.R. 4302, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014.  The primary purpose of the legislation was to extend a “patch” to prevent physicians who treat Medicare beneficiaries from receiving a more than 20 percent reimbursement cut on April 1.  The twelve month “patch” contained in H.R. 4302 is estimated to cost Medicare nearly $16 billion.  In order to offset the costs, the legislation contained reimbursement cuts throughout the Medicare system which did NOT single out hospice.

One Year Delay in Implementation of ICD-10: 
Additionally, the legislation delays for one year the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10, making the new implementation date October 1, 2015.