Switching of the medical industry to an updated bill coding system will leave several hospital, clinics, and doctor and psychologist offices throughout Wyoming unpaid by insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid in October.

A federal mandate, starting October 1, requires medical professionals to upgrade to the latest code system.

Under this, the medical providers send out bills with codes that document patient conditions from the International Classification of Diseases.

The Wyoming Department of Health, which administers Medicaid to roughly 11, 000 providers, has offered to help medical professionals test their new coding systems to ensure they work before the system goes live in October.

Lindsey Schilling, of the Health Department, said that on Monday only 32 medical professionals showed up to the department after the offer.

So far only four of the state's 27 hospitals, including Wyoming Medical Center in Casper, the Community Hospital of Torrington, Platte County Memorial Hospital in Wheatland and Johnson County Memorial Hospital in Buffalo, have agreed that they want to test with Wyoming Medicaid, said Schilling.

According to the Department of Health, from July 1 through the end of March, it has paid over $120 million to hospitals and doctors in Medicaid expenses.

Now it seems that a bulk of more money is at stake of private insurance and Medicare payments stop.

Schilling said patients shouldn't be affected if hospital and doctor billing system is not working on October 1, but if medical providers do not receive money, there will be several cash flow problems.

Eric Boley, president of Wyoming Hospital Association, said, "It could potentially be really damaging. They'll have to use their reserves -- if they have reserves -- for their operations".

All hospitals should test with Wyoming Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance companies, said Boley.