Icd-9-Cm Codes the International Classification of Diseases

ICD-9-CM Codes

The International Classification of Diseases is a means of differentiating, organizing, and recording epidemiological and morbidity data. Commonly known as the ICD, this guide is published by the World Health Organization. The ICD was developed to make meaningful the mortality data collected by member states in hopes of identifying trends such as access to healthcare, the prevalence of disease among a specific population, regional epidemics, etc. Whereas the ICD is used to code and classify mortality data, the International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification (ICD-CM) is a means of assigning the diagnostic and procedure codes used in the provision of healthcare in the United States. (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], Classification of Diseases, Functioning, and Disability, 2011) As American healthcare evolved over the 20th century and insurance providers, rather than patients, bore responsibility for the direct costs of care, nosology, or the systematic classification of disease, acquired a new visibility and influence. (O'Malley, Cook, Price, Raiford Wildes, Hurdle, & Ashton, 2005) As the ICD is the international gold standard in this particular field, its counterpart, the ICD-CM, is an important part of the American healthcare system.

The ICD-9-CM (the ninth revision of the system) consists of three main parts: a tabular

There are four steps necessary to ensure accurate coding. The first step is to locate the patient's condition or symptom in the Index in order to guarantee the greatest degree of specificity possible with regard to the patient's circumstances. (Optometry Coding Alert, 2004) As the purpose of codes is to classify medical conditions, it behooves both the medical professional and the patient for the description to be as accurate as possible. Relatedly, only the signs or symptoms exhibited by the patient should be coded; suspected causes or diagnoses should not be included. Coding for an unconfirmed diagnosis may erroneously label a patient, potentially making it more difficult to obtain health insurance coverage in the future. (Hill, 1999) The next step in the process is to find the patient's condition in the Tabular List. The Tabular List is comprised of 17 chapters, each of which is further divided into sections, and then into categories, subcategories, and sub-classification. (Preskitt, 2004) This tiered system affords a great degree of specificity, allowing the condition to be more accurately described. The Tabular List includes guidelines, references, and other additional information, and need be reviewed before a code is selected. This step leads to the third in the process, verification.