The ICD system that exists within medical billing and coding was created for the accurate tracking of diseases within a population. Within many years, it has become an integral part of the payment infrastructure of the United States healthcare system along with the CPT coding system for medical procedures. As our knowledge of diseases and the healthcare payment system grow, the ICD must grow as well.
The World Health Organization (WHO) created the ICD-10 system in 1989. The ICD-10 was created to replace the ICD-9. The purpose of the ICD-10 is to provide codes for medical billing and coding programs to record diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of diseases or injury.
The United States decided to transition to the ICD-10 because the ICD-10 provides more room for code expansion. This allows providers to use medical billing and coding that is more specific to a patient’s diagnosis. The United States is one of the last major nations to make the switch to the ICD-10. With the ICD-10, the codes will provide better support for patient care, improve management, and analytics.
There are many differences between the ICD-10 and the ICD-9. For instance, ICD-10 diagnosis codes may contain more digits than the traditional ICD-9. ICD-9 codes can contain between three to five digits, where as ICD-10 codes can be anywhere from three to seven digits long.
ICD-10 codes also begin with a letter. With the ICD-9, codes can begin with either a letter or a number. The main reason of switching from the ICD-9 to the ICD-10 is the ability the ICD-10 brings when it comes to adding new codes which makes it easier to add new codes for newly discovered diseases. ICD-10 codes are also very specific which helps eliminate coding errors. With it being more specific, this could result in improved patient safety, a more accurate diagnosis, and possibly fewer request for documentation to support a diagnosis. It should also help with claims being denied.
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Sources:
ICD – ICD-10-CM – International Classification of Diseases,(ICD-10-CM/PCS Transition (cdc.gov)
ICD-10 – Wikipedia
What Is The Difference Between ICD 9 and ICD 10? | Ultimate Medical Academy