As coders, we are familiar with the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance (C&M) Committee. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) describes it as a “federal interdepartmental committee comprised of representatives from (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).” CMS also notes that C&M is responsible for “approving coding changes (and) developing errata, addenda, and other modifications.” Historically, coding change requests would be submitted to the Committee for discussion at the spring or fall C&M meeting. Perhaps some of us have even participated in or listened in on some of these meetings.
Questions have been raised about the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee and submitting procedure code topics. With no spring C&M meeting being held, what is the process? Spring 2025 ICD-10-PCS procedure code topics will not be presented in a public meeting. Instead, CMS has posted the materials for review, and is asking for public comments on clinical questions or coding options. You can find them at https://cms.gov/medicare/coding-billing/icd-10-codes/icd-10-coordination-maintenance-committee-materials.
CMS also has imposed a deadline for comment submission on procedure code topics that are being considered for implementation on Oct. 1, 2025. That deadline date is April 18, 2025. All questions and comments should be sent to the CMS mailbox at [email protected] by the deadline.
CMS has also noted that they will post a question-and-answer document addressing any of those questions or comments submitted by the April 18 deadline. If you have some time, review the list of proposed new procedures and decide whether you plan on commenting. It is interesting to see what new medical procedures and technology are being used. This is also a good opportunity for coding staff education, even if you don’t see those types of procedures performed in your facility. Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Harvard Medical School are among those represented as requesting a new PCS code. In addition, there are eight therapeutic agent code requests.
Part of the materials posted is an ICD-10 timeline through August 2025. Listed on the timeline, so we don’t forget, is April 1, 2025, when we will see the implementation of those new and revised codes. Final addenda for both diagnoses and procedures should be posted in May/June 2025. The timeline notes links for both of those.
For diagnosis code topic questions, submit them to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. That link is [email protected].
The CDC website does note, under the upcoming meetings section, that a C&M meeting for fall 2025 is planned. It also notes that even though a spring meeting is not being held, it does not affect any ICD-10-CM code updates that were approved in 2024. They will still go into effect on Oct. 1 of this year.
