HBMA Forms ICD-10 Task Force

Healthcare Billing & Management Association and Other Organizations Will Work
Toward Improving ICD-10 Planning, Outreach and Implementation
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
The Healthcare Billing & Management Association (HBMA), a non-profit educational
resource and advocacy group representing third-party medical billers and billing
professionals, announced today that it has formed an ICD-10 Task Force. The
mission of this four-year standing committee will be to collaborate with the
public sector and industry stakeholders to develop an ICD-10 implementation
structure and resources to help minimize the cost, uncertainty and complexity of
the transition to the new diagnostic code set.

"The magnitude of this administrative change will be far greater than anything
the healthcare field has seen in our lifetimes," says Holly Louie, RN, CHBME,
PCS and chair of the ICD-10 Task Force. "If the transition to the new electronic
standards and entirely new coding system is not well-planned, providers and
their business partners could see major disruption. Our group has broad industry
representation and we`ve been focusing on ways to minimize the impact while
achieving the intended benefits." Louie, corporate compliance officer at
Practice Management, Inc, is also a member of the HBMA board of directors and
the chair of the HBMA Ethics & Compliance committee.

Though the ICD-10 Task Force is led by HBMA, it is a collaboration representing
the entire healthcare community, including participation from America`s Health
Insurance Plans, CAQH, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange, practice
management software vendors, electronic medical record system vendors, coding
professionals and others. The Task Force has designated liaisons to work with
key stakeholders including the American Health Information Management
Association, the American Medical Association and the Radiology Business
Management Association. At a face-to-face meeting with representatives from the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in June, CMS was invited to
participate. The ICD-10 Task Force was established to prepare HBMA`s response to
the Department of Health and Human Services` proposed rules regarding ANSI 5010
and ICD-10 implementations, published October 21, 2008. That letter is available
online at http://tinyurl.com/ln3aw3.

"A survey of HBMA members found that a large percentage of their client base,
which includes office-based physicians, hospital-based physicians and other
allied healthcare providers, do not have regular access to online resources,"
says Louie. "Communicating with them, much less training them, can be
challenging. That`s one of the reasons we believe this change will be stressful
for physician practices. They need an advocate as well as information, education
and resources."

In collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the American
Health Information Management Association, and other organizations, the ICD-10
Task Force will tackle issues relating to standard electronic transaction sets
and the new code sets. The committee will promote a range of policies, testing
periods, recommended deadlines, outreach programs and other measures intended to
make the transition more manageable.

About HBMA

A non-profit, member-led trade association, the Healthcare Billing & Management
Association (HBMA) represents more than 30,000 employees at well over 650
third-party medical billing firms. Annually, HBMA companies submit more than 350
million initial claims on behalf of hospital-based physicians, office-based
physicians and other allied healthcare providers. Founded in 1993, HBMA and its
members foster personal development, advocate on the behalf of the profession,
and promote cooperation through a wide range of business resources, educational
events, networking opportunities, certification programs and adherence to the
Medical Biller`s Code of Ethics. As the only trade association representing the
interests of medical billers in Washington D.C., HBMA works with legislative
stakeholders and federal agencies to improve the business of medical billing and
the practice of healthcare. Learn more about how HBMA is elevating the medical
billing profession at www.hbma.org.

Dodge Communications
Press contact information:
Dave Anderson, 770-576-2547
danderson@dodgecommunications.com
or
HBMA
Brad Lund, 877-640-4262
Executive Director
brad@hbma.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009