AMA wants protection for doctors rolling out new ICD-10

The American Medical Association (AMA) today voted in favor of a two-year grace period to protect hospitals and physician practices that implement a new medical classification system. The vote related to the federally mandated ICD-10 coding system is mostly symbolic, as the AMA doesn't make federal policy. The AMA's House of Delegates, however, does represent U.S. doctors, medical students and residents and is working to create a national physician consensus on emerging issues in public health. ICD-10, which is designed to better track diagnoses and treatments, affects dozens of core applications for healthcare providers and insurance payers. Currently, there's an Oct. 1, 2015 deadline for implementing the new medical coding system.