CMS has granted approval for state Medicaid fee-for-service programs in California, Louisiana, Maryland and Montana to delay the full implementation of ICD-10.
 
The state programs instead may take ICD-10 claims and convert them into ICD-9 codes and use the older system to calculate payments to providers, according to a report from Modern Healthcare. Apparently, the claims processing systems in those four states are unable to perform payment calculations using the new ICD-10 codes.
 
The “crosswalks” in these states are not a long-term solution, according to CMS spokesman Jibril Boykin, who was quoted in the Modern Healthcare report, though time limits were not provided and will vary on a state-by-state basis.
 
Meanwhile, IT experts remain concerned about the late hour of some states' lack of readiness for ICD-10, while others worry providers in these states may suffer from delayed payments with this piecemeal approach. For example, some ICD-10 codes do not crosswalk to ICD-9 codes.