OK, we have a deadline. The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) released a statement Thursday that sets the deadline for ICD-10 implementation at Oct. 1, 2015 — the earliest possible date set by the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014.

“On April 1, 2014, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA) (Pub. L. No. 113-93) was enacted, which said that the Secretary may not adopt ICD-10 prior to October 1, 2015. Accordingly, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expects to release an interim final rule in the near future that will include a new compliance date that would require the use of ICD-10 beginning October 1, 2015. The rule will also require HIPAA covered entities to continue to use ICD-9-CM through September 30, 2015.”

CMS hit the 12-month snooze button because it didn't have any choice. Non-enforcement periods, staggered deadlines and dual coding standards would create more problems than they could solve.

Of course extending the deadline to 2016 was an option — sort of. Not a good option though.

It is interesting that an interim rule is being issued without any comment period. It signals the federal government wants to get ICD-10 off the ground and won't tolerate any discussions of more delays or leapfrogging over ICD-10 to ICD-11.

I'm expecting a follow up statement to come out soon that says, "You got 12 more months. Get it done."