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The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) has gone on record approving the postponement of the ICD 10 transition until 2014.

The concerns over the deadline of the ICD-10 coding classification transition switched over to concerns over the delay of the deadline in the past few months. This left many healthcare organizations in flux. Now the American Medical Association (AMA) says it wants the ICD-10 implementation date delayed to Oct. 1, 2015.

The debate surrounding an ICD-10 delay continues after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) indicated its intention to push the deadline back one year to Oct 1., 2014. While many providers are struggling to get a handle on ICD-10, some have made strides in the implementation process and could be hurt financially by the delay.

In a recent public comment letter, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) chided the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about extending the compliance deadline to Oct. 1, 2014 for adoption of the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision code sets. As the AHIMA ruefully points out, many members of the healthcare community squandered the three years HHS gave them for the ICD-10 upgrade.

AHIMA is once again speaking against the ICD-10 deadline delay. The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) disagree. They called the one-year delay an appropriate “middle ground” for all stakeholders while urging HHS to remain committed to the new code sets.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finally announced a proposed rule to postpone the compliance date for ICD-10 by one year to Oct. 1, 2014.

In the spirit of all procrastinators, we can all relate to postponing undesired tasks. However, many are feeling that delaying the ICD-10 coding classification transition (which previously had an already pushed-back due date of October 2013) may be too much procrastination. With five times the number of diagnostic codes and the training involved for charting and coding, it is easy to understand why.

Even though we finally have a new ICD-10 implementation deadline, will just an extra 12 months really make a difference? Some ponder that healthcare providers who were on track to comply by Oct. 1, 2013 now have a chance to strengthen their plans and those who were behind now get a chance to catch up.