News: Government shutdown affects CMS

The federal court houses are closed. So are national landmarks, the United States scientific excursions to Antarctica, and there’s even talk about it hurting craft beer makers. Yes, even some CMS offices will close.

On the second day of the government shutdown, HHS released details of how it planned to handle the situation—in short, by furloughing more than 50% of its employees, some 40,000 staff members. CMS, for the most part, will remain intact for the short term, continuing with implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

CMS says it will be unable to continue “discretionary funding for healthcare fraud and abuse strike force teams,” meaning that fraud oversight may get overlooked. It also will conduct fewer recertification and initial surveys for Medicare and Medicaid providers “putting beneficiaries at risk of quality of care deficiencies.”

Additional healthcare quality cuts hit the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality which will see reduced funding for grants and contracts associated with research on patient safety improvements and reducing healthcare-associated infections, according to the HHS release. The agency will be unable to fund new grants and contracts related to health services research initiatives, including research on improving patient safety and reducing healthcare -associated infections.

Although healthcare professionals may have to wait a while for the next CMS Open Door Forum call regarding ICD-10, there’s still no reason to think that the government closures will affect the new code set implementation deadline.

Stanley Nachimson, principal, Nachimson Advisors, in Reisterstown, Md., worked for CMS during a previous shutdown nearly two decades ago, he said during this week’s Talk Ten Tuesday podcast. This shutdown “slows down the progress that CMS was making in terms of creating [ICD-10 implementation] guidance for the industry,” he said, pointing to the cancelation of an October 1 provider call.

Should such political gambling happen to occur at this time next year, Nachimson still believes the ICD-10 implementation date would remain the same. “It would certainly make for a shaky start but folks need to understand that October 1, 2014 is the day. Let’s hope they use some sense and that we don’t have to go through this again in a year."