According to a final rule published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on August 4, 2014, providers will be required to use the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision for diagnosis coding starting on October 1, 2015. Until then providers are to continue using the 9th Revision (ICD-9).
Given the winding path that ICD-10 has taken thus far, whether this new compliance date will stick remains to be seen. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced in 2009 that ICD-10 would be the standard code set (required by HIPAA) to replace ICD-9. The original implementation date was to be October 1, 2013. However, citing a lack of resources and readiness to implement ICD-10, in 2012, HHS extended the complianc deadline to October 1, 2014. But, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA), which was adopted on April 1, 2014, prohibited HHS from implementing ICD-10 before October 1, 2015 — hence the new “official” compliance date.