ICD-10
What is ICD-10?
The International Classification of Diseases is a widely utilized healthcare coding system that enables the nuanced identification, reporting, and billing of various procedures and diagnoses. ICD-10 is the tenth revision of this disease classification system, established by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1983.
WHO releases annual amendments for the ICD system, and ICD-11 is already planned for January 1, 2022 deployment.
Why is the ICD-10 important in healthcare?
ICD-10 allows for the tracking of many new diagnoses and procedures previously unavailable in ICD-9, as well as more detailed reporting of existing conditions. ICD-10 codes can represent anatomic locations, comorbidities, complications, and severity of illness with improved specificity. Where ICD-9 contained 17,000 codes for diagnostics and classification, ICD-10 offers 155,000 unique codes.