ICD10

ICD-10 stands for International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. It is a diagnostic classification system published and maintained by the World Health Organization. ICD-10 provides codes for diseases and a wide range of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, external causes of injury, social circumstances, and other health problems. Its primary purposes are to support reliable statistics on morbidity and mortality, to facilitate health management and epidemiological research, and to support billing and administrative processes in health care.

The ICD-10 coding system is used internationally, though many countries maintain local adaptations. In the United States, clinical modification and procedure coding are implemented as ICD-10-CM for diagnoses and ICD-10-PCS for inpatient procedures. ICD-10-CM/PCS entered use in 2015, replacing the previous ICD-9-CM coding sets for most coding tasks.

Structure and scope: ICD-10 codes are alphanumeric and typically up to seven characters for diagnoses. The first character is a letter, with subsequent digits and optional letters to define increasingly specific categories. The system allows for the expression of laterality, encounter type, severity, and other details.

Impact and challenges: ICD-10 expanded code space and detail over ICD-9, enabling finer distinctions in diseases and conditions, but requiring more detailed documentation and regular updates. In 2018, the WHO released ICD-11, a later revision intended to be more digital-friendly; adoption has varied by country.