CMS updates: Results from November ICD-10 Acknowledgement Testing Week

News Updates | December 23, 2014

Results from November ICD-10 Acknowledgement Testing Week

CMS conducted another successful acknowledgement testing week last month. Acknowledgement testing gives providers and others the opportunity to submit claims with ICD-10 codes to the Medicare Fee-For-service (FFS) claims systems and receive electronic acknowledgements confirming that their claims were accepted. While providers are welcome to submit acknowledgement test claims anytime, during the November testing week, testers submitted almost 13,700 claims.
More than 500 providers, suppliers, billing companies, and clearinghouses participated in the testing week last month. Testers included small and large physician practices, small and large hospitals, labs, ambulatory surgical centers, dialysis facilities, home health providers, ambulance providers, and several other physician specialties. Acceptance rates improved throughout the week with Friday’s acceptance rate for test claims at 87 percent. Nationally, CMS accepted 76 percent of total test claims. Testing did not identify any issues with the Medicare FFS claims systems. This testing week allowed an opportunity for testers and CMS alike to learn valuable lessons about ICD-10 claims processing.
To ensure a smooth transition to ICD-10, CMS verified all test claims had a valid diagnosis code that matched the date of service, a National Provider Identifier (NPI) that was valid for the submitter ID used for testing, and an ICD-10 companion qualifier code to allow for processing of claims. In many cases, testers intentionally included errors in their claims to make sure that the claim would be rejected, a process often referred to as “negative testing.” The majority of rejections on professional claims were common rejects related to an invalid NPI. Some claims were rejected because they were submitted with future dates. Acknowledgement testing cannot accept claims for future dates. Additionally, claims using ICD-10 must have an ICD-10 companion qualifier code. Claims that did not meet these requirements were rejected.
Mark your calendar for upcoming acknowledgement testing weeks on March 2-6, 2015and June 1-5, 2015. In addition to the special testing weeks, providers are welcome to submit acknowledgement test claims anytime up to the October 1, 2015implementation date. Contact your Medicare Administrative Contractor for more information.
For more information:

MLN Matters® Article MM8858, "ICD-10 Testing - Acknowledgement Testing with Providers”
MLN Matters® Special Edition Article SE1409, “Medicare FFS ICD-10 Testing Approach,” which also includes information on opportunities for end-to-end testing with FFS Medicare

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