ICD-10 could receive more than 6,000 code changes this year

The healthcare industry got a five-year break from annual code updates for ICD codes as preparations for ICD-10 implementation took place, but the updates will be back this year and bigger than ever.

At CMS’ recent ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting, approximately 3,650 new ICD-10-PCS codes, along with approximately 1,900 new ICD-10-CM codes, were revealed for consideration to be added to the official code set on October 1, according to the Journal of AHIMA. The proposals also included nearly 500 revised ICD-10-PCS codes and 351 revised ICD-10-CM codes.

Most of the new codes for ICD-10-PCS are for the cardiovascular system, with additional new codes for lower joint procedures. CMS offers a list of all the proposed ICD-10-PCS code changes. Additionally, speakers at the committee meeting proposed more new codes for ICD-10-PCS’ New Technology section.

Changes for ICD-10-CM cover a wider list of body systems and sections of the code book, but generally allow more specificity for certain diagnoses. For example, proposed new codes for blindness and low vision allow more granularity to track vision loss in each eye. A full list of the proposed new ICD-10-CM codes, as well as additions and deletions, can be found at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

In previous years with ICD-9-CM, providers often only had to consider a couple hundred new and revised codes, at most. With a lengthy code freeze that only included small, necessary updates, the backlog of potential new, revised, or deleted codes continued to grow. Providers have also now had time to work with ICD-10 and consider areas for improvement. While the new update may appear drastically larger than previous years, the number is still dwarfed by the number of codes that providers successfully integrated last year with ICD-10’s implementation.

Providers can comment on the proposed codes through April 8. Comments for the ICD-10-PCS code proposals should be sent to ICDprocedurecoderequest@CMS.HHS.gov, while comments on the ICD-10-CM code proposals should be sent to nchsicd10CM@cdc.gov.  

The final code updates and 2017 addendum is expected to be published in June, ahead of the October implementation date.

To view video recordings of the complete Coordination and Maintenance Committee’s meeting, see CMS’ website.