After five years of ICD-10 classification system code freezes, October 1, 2016 will see the system back on the routine cycle for annual updates. On March 9th and 10th, the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance committee met to review proposals for both ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS.
All PCS codes to date that have been approved as new, revised, and deleted have been compiled into a file for review under the Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting materials. For the October 1, 2016 update, there are currently 75,625 PCS codes for the FY 2017 update, which includes 3,651 new codes and 487 revised code titles.
Of the 3,651 new codes, 3,549 are cardiovascular system codes. These relate to unique device values, the addition of bifurcation as a qualifier, and additional specific body parts, as well as congenital cardiac procedures and placement of an intravascular neurostimulator. All of the revised code titles at this time have come from changing the number of coronary artery sites to the number of vessels, and the specification of the descending thoracic aorta.
Additional new codes include the expansion of the body part detail in Removal and Revision of lower joints, and the addition of unicondylar knee replacement. The codes presented at this meeting were for implementation in October 2016 and will be added to the already-approved list
There were 24 diagnosis proposals on the agenda for discussion such as:
- Clostridium Difficile: A proposal was presented to expand the code to differentiate recurrent C. difficile enterocolitis from enterocolitis not specified as recurrent.
- Congenital sacral dimple: The American Academy of Pediatrics proposed a new congenital code so this condition can be accurately tracked.
- Myocardial infarction: Specify the types as defined by several professional cardiology organizations. A specific code was proposed for type 2 myocardial infarction due to demand ischemia or ischemic imbalance so that data can be captured. The additional myocardial infarction types (3, 4a, 4b, 4c, 5) would all be assigned to one ICD-10-CM code. There was much discussion on this proposal related to the code proposals as well as the indexing and impact on subsequent myocardial infarctions. This proposal was requested for inclusion in the 10/1/16 addenda.
- Zika virus was discussed, regarding a new code being created. NCHS/CDC is proposing it for inclusion in the 10/1/16 addenda which would be consistent with the World Health Organization’s ICD-10 update
According to CMS, the coding update will be implemented on Oct. 1, 2016, and will include the “backlog of all proposals for changes to the code set proposed via the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee process during the partial code freeze, and receiving public support.”
The codes are posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics website here: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Publications/ICD10CM/2017/NewICD10CMCodes_FY2017.txt
Review the Meeting Agenda here: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/icd/topic_packet_03_09_16.pdf