C&M Update: Enhancements to ICD-10 Continue

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in an ongoing series of articles about proposed code changes to the ICD-10-CM/PCS code set that will be published here by Bryant and other contributing editors at ICD10monitor.

The ICD-10-CM/PCS Coordination and Maintenance (C&M) Committee met this past week, and there were lots of proposed enhancements to the code set presented and discussed. According to the Oxford dictionary, “enhancement” means an increase or improvement in quality, value, or extent. This definition truly describes the efforts of the C&M Committee and those who participate in the biannual process.

Per the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website, the Committee is a federal interdepartmental entity comprised of representatives from CMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The Committee is responsible for approving coding changes and developing errata, addenda, and other modifications. Requests for coding changes are submitted to the Committee for open discussion at either the spring or fall C&M meeting. Attendees can include clinicians, clinical societies and associations, suppliers, researchers, and health information management (HIM) coding professionals.

Among proposed changes to the ICD-10-CM (diagnosis) code set, the following topics were on the March 2017 agenda for discussion (note that these have not been approved yet):

As you can see, there are many extremely interesting and relevant topics associated with the diagnosis code set. Recommendation details, which can be found on the ICD-10-CM agenda materials, include the rationale for the change and revisions and modifications (enhancements) to the index and the tabular by way of adding, revising, or deleting a term, code, or instructional note (and/or adding laterality).

For ICD-10-PCS (procedure coding system) the following proposed procedure changes were on the March 2017 agenda for discussion (note these also have not been approved yet):

Certainly, the list of topics above demonstrates the great enrichment that this code set brings to many aspects of surgical treatment, clinical practice, and data quality. The ICD-10-PCS revisions often include proposals to add unique values to describe procedures, which otherwise would be omitted.

It should be noted that there were no requests for ICD-10 codes to capture new diagnoses or new technology for implementation on April 1, 2017.

Submit written comments by April 7, 2017 for codes discussed at the March 7-8, 2017 C&M meeting:

We can anticipate that the final addendums will be posted around late July or early August on Web pages as follows:

Besides attending in person to these valuable public forums, you may also attend via free livestream webcast or via listening to the proceedings through a free live conference line. Be sure to watch for details on the September 2017 meeting so you can attend and learn more about enhancements to the code sets.

PROGRAM NOTE: Listen to Talk Ten Tuesdays today at 10 a.m. ET, when Gloryanne Bryant will be joined by Laurie Johnson and Rhonda Buckholtz as they report on proposed code changes to the ICD-10-CM/PCS set.