HHS calls for adoption of ICD-10 codes
- By Nancy zz_Ferris
- Aug 18, 2008
The Health and Human Services Department has proposed replacing the 30-year-old codes for recording medical diagnoses and billing for treatment with the updated International Classification of Diseases code set by October 2011.
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a statement that the conversion is essential to development of a Nationwide Health Information Network. HHS officials acknowledged there would be costs for training users and modifying systems, but Leavitt said, “The greatly expanded ICD-10 code sets will enable HHS to fully support quality reporting, pay-for-performance, biosurveillance and other critical activities.”
Besides the ICD-10 Clinical Modification for coding diagnoses and the ICD-10 Procedure Coding System, HHS is proposing that the medical community adopt Version 5010 of the X12 transaction standard and Version D.0 of the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs standard for pharmacy claims by April 2010.
The changes are outlined in proposed regulations published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which will accept comments on the regulations through Oct. 21.
“The American Health Information Management Association is excited to hear the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to adopt ICD-10 classification upgrades,” said Linda Kloss, AHIMA’s chief executive officer, in a statement. The association has long advocated conversion to ICD-10 codes, which are widely used in other Western countries.
“We regard this as a significant step forward in the march toward the use of classification systems that reflect 21st-century medical knowledge within a foreseeable time frame,” Kloss added. “AHIMA is also hopeful that CMS can digest the responses to the proposed rule and promptly issue final rules in order for the health care industry to, at long last, get ICD-10 implementation rolling.”
The medical community currently uses the ICD-9 code set, which is limited to 17,000 codes. By next year, it will be difficult to find slots for new diseases and procedures. ICD-10 has space for more than 155,000 codes, which allows for more specificity and detail. For example, it could record different types of cancer of a particular organ and the extent of the disease.
“We recognize that the transition to ICD-10 will require some upfront costs, but each year of delay would create additional costs, both because of the limitations of ICD-9 and because of the need to employ the greater precision that ICD-10 codes provide to support value-based purchasing of health care and other initiatives,” said Kerry Weems, acting CMS administrator, in a statement. “We will continue to work collaboratively across the health care system to ensure a smooth transition.”
In the past, CMS officials said they intended to make the move to ICD-10, but the timing was uncertain until now.
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