ICD-10 - Is it finally ready?

It looks like there finally is an official plan to implement the ICD-10 code set in the United States.

The ICD-10 Final rule, which discusses the replacement of the ICD-9 code set with the ICD-10 code set, was released on January 16, 2009. The ICD-10 final rule has been published at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/browse.html. A final date of October 1, 2013, has been set as the cut over from ICD-9 to ICD-10.

ICD-9 has been used in the United States since 1979. Over the last thirty years as diagnosis and treatment options have been emerging, the ICD-9 code set has not been able to accommodate all of these changes appropriately. The adoption of ICD-10 will expand the number of available codes from 17,000 to more than 155,000. The ICD-10 code set also has plenty of available space to accommodate new procedures and diagnoses which is not currently the case in ICD-9.

The US is one of a handful of developed nations that is not currently using the ICD-10 code set and this switch will allow CMS and CDC to better track the occurrence, spread, and treatment of disease on an international level. Additionally, this will aid in the further development of biosurveillance which is an emerging practice designed to automatically monitor information sources for signs of an epidemic and whether it may be occurring naturally or as a result of bioterrorism.

ICD-10 contains codes that are more specific than anything that is currently available in ICD-9. In a HHS January 15, 2009, news release, which announced the Final rule publication, an angioplasty procedure was used as a specific example. Currently there is one code to report this procedure in the ICD-9 code set and ICD-10 expands the coding options to more than 1,000 possibilities. ICD-10 contains angioplasty codes that specifically state where a blockage occurred and exactly what device was used to combat the blockage. It is the increased specificity with this new set of codes that will greatly improve a coders chance of submitting an accurate claim the first time around.

In the coming weeks we will be discussing multiple topics related to the implementation of ICD-10. During this time I want to hear from you. What are you excited about? What worries you about the implementation process? Do you think you will be ready when October 1, 2013, rolls around?

Stay tuned for more information on this dramatic change in the coding industry.