CMS updates: ICD-10 News: CMS Conducts Second Successful Medicare FFS ICD-10 End-to-End Testing Week in April

News Updates | June 2, 2015

CMS Conducts Second Successful Medicare FFS ICD-10 End-to-End Testing Week in April

From April 27 through May 1, 2015, Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) health care providers, clearinghouses, and billing agencies participated in a second successful ICD-10 end-to-end testing week with all Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and the Durable Medical Equipment (DME) MAC Common Electronic Data Interchange (CEDI) contractor. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was able to accommodate most volunteers, representing a broad cross-section of provider, claim, and submitter types.
This second end-to-end testing week demonstrated that CMS systems are ready to accept ICD-10 claims. Approximately 875 providers and billing companies participated, and testers submitted over 23,000 test claims. View the results.
Overall, participants in the April end-to-end testing week were able to successfully submit ICD-10 test claims and have them processed through Medicare billing systems. The acceptance rate for April was higher than January, with an increase in test claims submitted and a decrease in the percentage of errors related to diagnosis codes. Most of the claim rejections that occurred were due to errors unrelated to ICD-9 or ICD-10.
In addition to acknowledgement testing, which may be completed at any time, a final end-to-end testing week will be held on July 20 through 24, 2015. The opportunity to volunteer for this testing week has closed. Testers who participated in the January and April end-to-end testing weeks are automatically eligible to test again in July.
Prepare now for ICD-10 implementation
Medicare claims with a date of service on or after October 1, 2015, will be rejected if they do not contain a valid ICD-10 code. The Medicare claims processing systems do not have the capability to accept ICD-9 codes for dates of service after September 30, 2015; or accept claims that contain both ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes.
There is still time to get ready!
Even though the October 1, 2015, mandatory implementation date is quickly approaching, providers still have time to prepare for ICD-10, and CMS has created a number of tools and resources to help you succeed. One tool is the “Road to 10,” aimed specifically at smaller physician practices with primers for clinical documentation, clinical scenarios, and other specialty-specific resources to help you with implementation.
For more information

MLN Matters® Article #MM8867, “ICD-10 Limited End-to-End Testing with Submitters for 2015
MLN Matters® Special Edition Article #SE1435, “FAQs – ICD-10 End-to-End Testing”
MLN Matters® Special Edition Article #SE1409, “Medicare FFS ICD-10 Testing Approach”

Keep Up to Date on ICD-10
Visit the CMS ICD-10 website for the latest news and resources to help you prepare. Sign up for CMS ICD-10 Industry Email Updates and follow us on Twitter.