News Report: ICD-10 Prompting 'Hold-Harmless' Provisions in Contracts between Healthcare Providers, Partners

Published on:
12 February 2013 at 09:54 a.m. ET

Written by: Evan J. Albright –

http://www.insidearm.com/news/00008305-news-report-icd-10-prompting-hold-harmles/

Healthcare providers and their respective partners, out of concern that the conversion to ICD-10 will not go smoothly, have begun modifying their respective contracts with hold-harmless clauses, a news website has reported.

According to an article by David Weldon writing for the website PhysBizTech.com, there is an emerging trend where healthcare providers and their partners realize they may not be ready in time for the Oct. 1, 2014 switchover to ICD-10 so are inserting “hold-harmless” clauses into their respective contracts.

Weldon quotes Cleveland attorney Victoria Vance who said she knows of several healthcare providers and partners who are “mutually indemnifying each other” because “healthcare systems worry whether their vendor partners will be there for the long haul … The longevity track record of many vendors in the healthcare space has not always been reassuring.”