Pro-Adoption of ICD-10 CM

Continued use of the ICD-9 CM presents downfalls to the medical coding system in the United States. Since the development of the ICD-10, “endorsed by the Forty-third World Health Assembly in May 1990 and came into use in WHO Member States as from 1994” http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/ , the US has continued use of the 30 year old ICD-9-CM system. This system is described as no longer able to “accurately describe today's practice of medicine,” and continued use of the system, “jeopardizes the ability to effectively collect and use accurate, detailed healthcare data and information for the betterment of domestic and global healthcare.” http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DUD/is_/ai_n14736317
Even though the ICD-9-CM is updated on a yearly basis, there are “numerous conditions and procedures (that) are outdated and inconsistent with current medical knowledge and application. ICD-9-CM also cannot address the increasing pressure for more specific codes, especially codes that represent new technology. Outdated codes provide inaccurate or limited data and insufficient detail related to health diagnoses, procedures and technologies.” http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DUD/is_/ai_n14736317

Getting on a fast track to adopt the ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PSC is currently hindered mostly by perceived cost. “However, delaying its implementation will actually increase future implementation costs as implementing a new coding system will require systems and application upgrades. This can be avoided if implementation is planned with other system changes to maximize impact and reduce complexity.” Combating the opposition can be facilitated by also considering, “reduced healthcare costs will result in a more specific coding system is employed, facilitating prevention and identification of fraud and abuse or the specificity needed to conduct good quality improvement and error reduction programs. The exchange of additional data beyond the basic claim, and the time it takes to gather and process such detail, will significantly be reduced due to the more specific detail contained in the ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS codes.”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DUD/is_/ai_n14736317