Important Meeting Set for Today

The Coordination and Maintenance Committee is scheduled for today —the first of a two-day session by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Your attendance at the Coordination and Maintenance Committee Meeting is important. These meetings provide coders and clinicians the opportunity to comment on the development of the ICD-10-CM/PCS classification systems. These discussions become a collaboration of clinicians and coders. These meetings provide the “spirit” of the code which means that they discuss why a specific code is needed and the impact of the data collected.

The final agendas have been posted for the Coordination and Maintenance Committee Meeting. September 10^th at 9:00 AM ET begins the procedure portion of the meeting. The final procedure agenda was posted with ten topics including the Addenda and Definition Key updates. There is also a notice that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare-Severity Diagnosis Related Groups (MS-DRGs) and Medicare Code Editor (MCE) software currently uses Java version 8 which will end by November 2026. CMS is planning to convert the software to Java version 17. The plan is to convert to Java 17 with the fiscal year 2026 releases of MS-DRG grouper and MCE software. Questions may be directed to GrouperBetaTesting@cms.hhs.gov.

The procedure agenda also includes two proposals that will not be discussed during today’s meeting. The proposals are for administration of the following:

• Emapalumab-lzsg
• Tarlatamab-dlle

The proposals are included in the agenda packet. If the session keeps on schedule, it will conclude around 11:30 a.m. today.

The diagnosis portion of the meeting will follow the procedure proposals. The diagnosis agenda is packed with 39 proposals plus the Index and Tabular Addenda. The diagnosis packet includes a timed agenda with a planned finish Wednesday, Sept. 11.

You must register to attend.

The instructions are provided in the meeting packet regarding how to register as well as logging in on the meeting day. Attendees can comment on the proposals. These meetings are recorded so you can review the presentations after the meeting.

The deadline for submitting comments on the procedure and diagnosis proposals requesting April 1, 2025; implementation is Oct. 11. The deadline for the proposals requesting Oct. 1, 2025; implementation is Nov. 13.

Comments should be sent to ICDProcedureCodeRequest@cms.hhs.gov. Comments on diagnosis proposals should be sent to nchsicd10cm@cdc.gov.

December 6, 2024 is the deadline to submit ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS proposals for the March 2025 Coordination and Maintenance Committee Meeting. Send diagnosis proposals to nchsicd10cm@cdc.gov. Send the procedure proposals to https://mearis.cms.gov. The next Coordination and Maintenance Committee Meeting is March 18and March 19, 2025.

You can impact the spirit of the codes this year by listening to the Coordination and Maintenance Committee Meeting, commenting during the meeting, and submitting your written comments by the deadline. Your comments may have an influence!

Resources:

ICD-10-PCS: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coding-billing/icd-10-codes/icd-10-coordination-maintenance-committee-materials

ICD-10-CM: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/icd/icd-10-maintenance/meetings.html