It seems like we just started using ICD-10 (although it went into effect in 2015) and the World Health Organization is planning to release ICD-11 on January 1, 2022.
In an article titled “WHO Group Discusses ICD-11 Transitoin Planning”, written by Sue Bowman, MJ, RHIA, CCS, FAHIMA and recently published in the Journal of AHIMA, it stated ICD-11 was adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 25, 2019 and will go into effect January 1, 2022.
The article outlined some of the reasons WHO believes ICD-11 is necessary:
- The current ICD-10 version is outdated clinically and from the classification perspective.
- Some chapters needed substantial structural changes.
- Changes needed could not be incorporated under the normal ICD-10 update mechanisms.
- Operating in an electronic environment is an increasing need.
- Additional information needs to be collected especially for morbidity purposes.
The article went on to say, ICD-11 is anticipated to support multiple use cases and will incorporate many critical advances in science and medicine. ICD-11 is 100% electronic and can be integrated with EHR’s and other information systems.
Some of the major differences in ICD-11 are:
- The use of extension codes for temporality, severity and anatomic detail
- Code clustering – using two or more codes to describe a diagnostic entity. The example the article gave is the code cluster DA63/ME24.90 which translates to duodenal ulcer with associated acute gastrointestinal bleeding.
- Some chapters have been restructured (such as infectious disease, HIV, valve diseases)
- Some diseases have changed location (such as cerebrovascular diseases moved from the circulatory chapter to the nervous system chapter).
- New chapters – there are six new chapters which include:
- Diseases of the Blood and Blood-forming Organs
- Disorders of the Immune System
- Conditions Related to Sexual Health
- Sleep-Wake Disorders
- Extension Codes
- Traditional Medicine
WHO committees and workgroups have agreed that any implementation plan must include:
- An evaluation of ICD-11 for national purposes
- Impact analysis
- Value proposition for stakeholders
- Risk assessment
- Identification of stakeholders
- Resource planning
- Timeline
- Communication plan
- Training plan
The article mentioned that it is unknown when the U.S. will implement ICD-11, however, discussions around ICD-11 transition planning have already begun at the federal level and there is a roundtable meeting scheduled in August in Washington D.C.
To review the full article written by Sue Bowman, click here.