August 2004 Newsletter

ICD Grace Period

CMS Eliminates 90-day Grace Period for Billing with Discontinued ICD-9-CM Codes for 2005

by , Quality Assurance

In last quarter's newsletter, we reported that CMS now requires up-to-date ICD-9-CM codes at the time they're implemented, to comply with HIPAA. We anticipated that other payers may follow suit.

In fact, they did. As of June, some Blue Cross/Blue Shield carriers are starting to publish their plan to follow the CMS directives regarding the elimination of a grace period. We will continue to monitor other payers to see if they will also be following these guidelines, and adjust our edits accordingly.

Providers can view the new, revised, and discontinued ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes on the DHHS web site.