More than 800 ICD-10 code changes introduced for 2017

Two years after the introduction of ICD-10, the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee has introduced more than 800 code changes set to take effect in October.

Introduced in a blog post by Jerris Heaton, a marketing coordinator for ChartLogic, the ICD-10 changes were approved by the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee. In total, 419 codes were added, 273 codes were revised and 123 codes were deleted. Healthcare organizations are urged to update their management, electronic health records and other IT systems to comply with the changes.

“Practices currently using procedure codes that will be deleted must retrieve the new codes that represent the same procedures for billing,” wrote Heaton. “They must also become familiar with codes for new billing scenarios and revisions that add details to existing codes.”

Major changes include revisions requested by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in the field of ectopic pregnancy, allowing the viewing of when a patient is in remission from substance abuse, codes for myocardial infarction, heart failure, the deletion of codes for anorectal abscesses and head injuries.