ICD-10 CM is the new beefed-up avatar of ICD and it brings with it the promise of greater level of detail in morbidity classification and diagnosis specificity. The most obvious difference between ICD-10 and its predecessor, besides the conspicuous variation in the number of the codes (68,000 codes vs 13,000), would be in the structure of the codes themselves. Whereas ICD-9 codes consisted of 3 to 5 characters, which were predominantly numeric with the exception of V and E codes which began with the letters V or E, ICD-10 codes embrace all the alphabets of the English language except “U”, and the codes themselves contain both alpha and numeric components every single time.
E.g. The code for Unspecified Disorder of kidney and ureter was 593.9 in ICD-9, whereas it is designated as N28.9 in ICD-10.
ICD-9-CM CODE STRUCTURE
Although ICD-10 structure follows the same overall pattern as ICD-9, in that there are still Alphabetic Index and Tabular list, the following are the major changes when compared to ICD-9:
1. The alphabetic Index is significantly longer and now has 21 chapters.
2. V and E codes are no longer considered as supplemental codes.
3. Injuries are classified by their anatomical location rather than injury category.
4. Combination codes for poisonings and external causes. Etc.
Also codes for certain diseases, like diabetes mellitus, have been expanded. All these expansions and additions have been done to reflect current clinical classification and also the language used complements current clinical practice. It has been generally seen that coders with enhanced pathophysiological and human anatomy knowledge have had it better when it comes to the assimilation of ICD-10. Thus a select few medical coding companies like Billing Paradise based out of California have experienced successful outcomes with regards to adopting ICD-10 within their environs, due to the continual educational initiatives adopted in these companies.
