With the ICD-10-CM implementation date on the horizon, there may be questions about this new medical coding system. Why is it needed? What are the changes? How will it affect my medical coding career? While you’re very familiar with ICD-9-CM, you may wonder what the ICD-10-CM system is all about. Here’s some helpful information:
What is ICD-9-CM? ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition, Clinical Modifications) is a set of codes used by physicians, hospitals, and health care professionals to indicate the diagnosis for all patient visits. ICD-9-CM contains approximately 13,000 codes; these codes are mandatory for all health insurance claims in the U.S.
ICD-9 diagnosis codes consist of 3-5 numeric characters representing illnesses and conditions; alpha-numeric E codes describing external causes of injuries, poisonings, and adverse effects; and V codes describe factors influencing health status and contact with health services.
What is ICD-10-CM? ICD-10-CM is the long awaited diagnosis code revision to ICD-9-CM. This coding system contains approximately 68,000 codes. ICD-10 has been in use throughout the world for both morbidity and mortality statistics since 1994. It has been required for reporting mortality statistics in the United States since 1999.
The ICD-10-CM codes are very different from the codes included in the ICD-9-CM medical coding system. All codes for ICD-10-CM are alpha-numeric. There may be up to seven alpha-numeric characters – which will require extensive changes to billing software programs to accommodate the additional digits, as well as additional medical coding training to familiarize people with the new codes.
Why is the new ICD-10-CM coding system needed?
The ICD-9-CM system, which has been in use since 1979, has run its due course and provides the following limitations:
- Limited Space – It is running out of numbers to assign for codes and in some cases, new code proposals have not been adopted because of limited space
- Not Specific Enough – Its diagnosis codes do not describe the severity or complexity of the various disease conditions. This has resulted in increasing requests for additional documentation in order to support claims.
- No Exchange of Information – It hinders the exchange of meaningful health care data with health care organizations and professionals around the world.
What are the benefits of adopting ICD-10-CM?
The anticipated benefits of implementing the new ICD-10 medical coding system include: expanded injury codes, grouped according to site rather than type of injury; combination of diagnosis/symptom codes; addition of sixth character with some codes extended out to the seventh character; laterality (left and right specific where applicable); V and E codes incorporated into the main classification; obstetric codes that identify trimester; addition of ambulatory and managed care encounter information; and expanded postoperative complication information is located within the individual chapters.
How does this affect my medical coding career?
As a medical coder, you will need to get a comprehensive overview of the significant changes in store for both diagnostic and procedural coding, along with detailed information on the impacts of the coding changes to your medical coding career. Because October 1, 2013 is the drop-dead date for compliance, all health care professionals – from medical coders to doctors – will need to be familiar with the new system. This means that you will need to enroll in an ICD-10-CM medical coding course to learn the new medical coding system, which consists of almost 55,000 more codes. While there’s still a lot of time to prepare, you need to look ahead toward the upcoming changes.
The new ICD-10-CM medical coding system is an essential progression for the U.S. health care system – the current ICD-9-CM system has run out of space for new codes and limits the coding process. As a medical coder, you need to familiarize yourself with the vast new system and get the medical coding training necessary to make a smooth transition.
Heather H. Brunson is a lead marketing copywriter for Allied Medical School. Allied provides medical training programs that prepare students for careers in the medical billing, medical coding, and medical transcription fields. Online courses offer students a quick and convenient way to learn.
