#2: United States Adopts ICD-10 (finally)

The U.S. healthcare industry caught up to 27 other countries by implementing the ICD-10 coding system on October 1, 2015. ICD-10 stands for the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems – 10th Revision. It is coding used by doctors, hospitals, and health plans to document diseases, diagnoses, and symptoms.  There are now more than 70,000 different codes to choose from, an increase of the 14,400 found in ICD-9. More codes mean better documentation of diseases, which can equate to better healthcare.

The federal government delayed the implementation three times before worried about the healthcare industry’s ability to implement successfully. However, this time around many healthcare companies shared positive results after the switch. This has been a long time coming. For example: United Kingdom adopted ICD-10 in 1995, Canada in 2000, China  in 2002, and France in 2005.

 

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