James Madara, executive vice president and CEO of the American Medical Association (AMA) reached out to John Boehner, the House Speaker (R-Ohio), asking him to stop the federally mandated implementation of the ICD-10 coding system. The switch from the ICD-9 to ICD-10 code sets is set for October 1, 2013 and will have an enormous impact on the U.S health care system increasing the code set from about 14,000 to about 69,000 codes. Madara on behalf of the AMA suggests that ICD-10 implementation "will create significant burdens on the practice of medicine with no direct benefit to individual patient care, and will compete with other costly transitions associated with the quality and health IT reporting program." Madara would like to see the timelines and fees associated with the deadline reevaluated due to health care providers dealing with multiple changes in relation to the health care reform. There are high pressures for providers to stay compliant with federal health IT programs including the meaningful use program, the electronic prescribing program, and the physician quality reporting system. Madara argues that more time is needed for the transition to ICD-10. To read the details of this information click here.