The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has posted remarkably readable and useful information about the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 on their website. Click here to see.
On October 1, 2014, a key element of the data foundation of the United States’ health care system will undergo a major transformation. We will transition from the decades-old Ninth Edition of the International Classi cation of Diseases (ICD-9) set of diagnosis and inpatient procedure codes tothe Tenth Edition of those code sets — or ICD-10 — the version currently used by most developedcountries throughout the world. ICD-10 allows for greater speci city and detail in describing a patient’s diagnosis and in classifying inpatient procedures, so reimbursement can better re ect the intensity ofthe patient’s condition and diagnostic needs.
This transition will have a major impact on anyone who uses health care information that contains adiagnosis and/or inpatient procedure code, including:
• Hospitals
•Health care practitioners and institutions
•Health insurers and other third-party payers
•Electronic-transaction clearinghouses
•Hardware and software manufacturers and vendors
•Billing and practice-management service providers
•Health care administrative and oversight agencies
•Public and private health care research institutions
Planning and preparation are important to help streamline your practice’s transition.