During the week of July 20-24, a final sample group of providers will have the opportunity to participate in ICD-10 end-to-end testing with Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) and the common electronic data interchange (CEDI) contractor.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is accepting additional July volunteers from through May 22.
CMS indicates that approximately 850 volunteer submitters will be selected to participate in the final end-to-end testing. Note: Testers who are participating in the January and April end-to-end testing weeks are able to test again in July without re-applying.
As opposed to acknowledgement testing, where testers submitted claims with ICD-10 codes to the Medicare fee-for-service claims systems and receive acknowledgements to confirm that their claims were accepted or rejected, end-to-end testing takes that a step further, processing claims through all Medicare system edits to produce and return an accurate Electronic Remittance Advice. While acknowledgement testing is open to all electronic submitters, end-to-end testing is limited to a smaller sample of submitters who volunteer and are selected for testing.
Here is what you need to know to volunteer as a testing submitter:
- Volunteer forms are available on your MAC website
- Completed volunteer forms are due May 22
- CMS will review applications and select additional July testers
- The MACs and CEDI will notify the volunteers selected to test and provide them with the information needed for the testing by June 12
If selected, testers must be able to:
- Submit future-dated claims.
- Provide valid national provider identifiers, provider transaction access numbers and beneficiary health insurance claim numbers that will be used for test claims. This information will be needed by your MAC for set-up purposes by the deadline on your acceptance notice; testers will be dropped if information is not provided by the deadline.
Any issues identified during testing will be addressed prior to ICD-10 implementation. Educational materials will be developed for providers and submitters based on the testing results.
Looking for resources to help with your organization’s preparation for the transition to ICD-10 prior to its October 1, 2015, implementation date? Here are a few to help you out:
- The ICD-10 Transition: An Introduction (pdf)
- ICD-9 to ICD-10 Conversion Tool
- ICD-10 Basics for Medical Practices (pdf)
- ICD-10 Basics for Small and Rural Practices (pdf)
- Road to 10, an online resource built with input from providers in small practices
- The ICD-10 Transition: Focus on Non-Covered Entities (pdf)