Get ready for sweeping ICD-10 code changes in 2017
Get ready for sweeping ICD-10 code changes to the 2017 coding year on October 1, 2016. You will most likely need to purchase new coding materials. Maybe now is the time to think about electronic coding tool options instead of books.
ICD-10 was successfully implemented on October 1, 2015. At the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting, March 9-10, 2016, stakeholders proposed 1,900 code changes to ICD-10-CM and several last-minute changes to the ICD-10-PCS code set, which already has 3,651 new codes approved for October 1, 2016 implementation.
It?s been four years since the last regular annual update to the ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 code sets. Both code sets received only limited updates to capture new technologies and diseases between the years 2012-2014. Those limited updates were reserved for ICD-10, last year. The partial code freeze ends October 1, 2016. Now is the task of updating ICD-10 with a backlog of needed code changes, many of which have been requested by special interest groups for the past few years
Updates in ICD-10-CM
There are 1,900 new ICD-10-CM codes proposed for the October 2017 release, to date. Out of that there are 313 deletions and 351 revised codes. The codes are posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics website.
A few codes will be released early, such as the new Zika virus code (A92.5), although most of the codes discussed at the meeting are proposed for 2017 release.
Among the many proposed updates in the Tabular List, a large number of updates occurs in categories H54 Blindness and low vision and O00 Ectopic pregnancy.
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists? (ACOG) request has already been approved for the October 2016 addenda, for new codes to capture multiple gestational pregnancy with co-existing ectopic and intrauterine pregnancies. New codes are necessary to recognize the increased incidence of ectopic pregnancy occurrence with the use of assisted reproductive technologies, according to ACOG. At the meeting in March, ACOG requested to amend their proposal to include laterality. ACOG said, ?Laterality is important to track since patients who have had ectopic pregnancies in the past are more likely to have subsequent ectopic pregnancies.?
Updates in ICD-10-PCS.
There are 75,625 ICD-10-PCS codes for fiscal year (FY) 2017, to date. Of that number, 3,651 are new codes and 487 are revised. And of those new codes, 3,549 (97 percent) are in the cardiovascular system section. Many of these changes revolve around cardiac coding and providing options we had in ICD-9 that were missing in ICD-10.
These new and revised codes have already been approved at previous meetings for the October 1, 2016 release.
The complete list of proposed new and revised codes for ICD-10-PCS is available on the CMS.gov website.
The final rule with codes to be implemented October 1, 2016, will be released August 1, 2016.