ICD-10 Testing Week Scheduled for March

• By Laurie Watanabe
• Dec 18, 2013

In preparation for the launch of ICD-10 code sets on Oct. 1, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has scheduled a testing week for March 3-7.

"This testing week will give trading partners access to the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs)and Common Electronic Data Interchange (CEDI) for testing with real-time help desk support," CMS said in a bulletin sent out by the DME MACs on Dec. 12.

Participants will need to register for the testing week.

During the test, CMS said participants should send test claims "with ICD-10 codes... with current dates of service, i.e., Oct. 1, 2013, through March 3, 2014, since testing does not support future dated claims."

Test claims will receive confirmation acknowledgement, which will indicate whether the test claim was accepted or rejected.

"Testing will not confirm claim payment or produce remittance advice," the bulletin noted. It added that the MACs and CEDI would have additional staff on hand during the testing time period to handle the anticipated higher-than-normal call volume.

A Medicare Learning Network bulletin said the MACs would provide registration information at a later date, at least four weeks before testing week starts.

After the testing week, the MACs will report the number of people who participated in the testing week, the percentages of claims accepted and rejected, and "any significant issues found during testing."