ICD-10-M, the New International Classification of Diseases

“Diagnosis Coding” is a known method for reporting why a particular medical service is required for a particular patient. It is a type of specific language. Accurate diagnosis coding report is very important for payers as it explains the reasons for providing particular service to the patient.

In order to promote the international comparability in the collection, processing, classification, and presentation of mortality statistics specific “International Classification of Diseases(ICD)” have been designed and published by the “World Health Organization(WHO)”.ICD provides specific format for reporting causes of death on the certificate of death. Medical conditions reported in the death certificate subsequently transformed in to medical codes with the help of classification structure of ICD along with the selection and modification rules included in the respective applicable revision of ICD.

ICD helps in selecting a single reason for death. This can be done with the help of reported sequence of conditions.ICD coding rules also help in improving the usefulness of mortality statistics. It is mainly because of a preference given to specific categories. This single identified cause of death is termed as the ‘underlying cause of death’. All other reasons reported constitute the ‘non-underlying causes of death’. Combined together they are known as ‘multiple causes of death’.

ICD-10-M, the new system in place will present a new opportunity for improving the collection and selection of relevant information. It is becoming more pertinent when the health care delivery systems are becoming more complex. It will also augment the documentation improvement processes for generating health records. Physicians around the world are adapting electronic medical record system and ICD-10-M will facilitate them improved coding and increased accuracy. The new coding system will also facilitate equally the hospitals, payers, and all other health systems. Improved payment system, detailed and accurate information generation and recording system is very important for improving the quality of health care and ‘good reporting practices (GRP)’.

Majority of the developed countries have adopted the ICD-10-M systems excluding the United States. Non-application of these classification systems is causing major differences and problems in the determination of national international comparisons for mortality and morbidity. In the United States applicable standards are ICD-10 for reporting cause of death. Because of this different applicability statistical analysis and trend comparisons are becoming difficult as the cause of death and diseases classifications are totally different.

According to experts, a well planned transition from ICD-10 to ICD-10-M is required across the world. Staffing, vendor management, and cash flow impacts are certain specific key areas that would be benefiting with this transition most.ICD-10-M is a new alphanumeric coding system with up to seven digits of specificity and is altogether different from its all previous versions.

Related Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnosis_codes

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