ICD-10 deadline keeps momentum alive, C-suite engaged

"We had a number of clients hesitate after the initial announcement of a delay by CMS," said Michael Arrigo, managing partner of consultancy No World Borders healthcare practice. "Now that the final rule has been published it removes uncertainty from the market place about ICD-10." Arrigo is not alone in finding that keeping the C-suite engaged in such a massive and expensive project—one that nonetheless had an unsolidified deadline—has been quite challenging. Leading up to Friday's announcement, the sense was prevalent that pushing the compliance date further into the future than 2014 would be damaging, if not disastrous, to the industry, particularly to those payers and providers that have already moved beyond the assessment phase of this transition.