Why Replace ICD-9?

Cancer Registrars have been using ICD-10 mortality codes for some time and we are familiar with coding and standards changes.  But, what is the “inside scoop” on why are ICD-9 codes are being replaced?  Here are some quick facts on what is happening in the industry.       

ICD-9-CM is a diagnostic and procedural classification system originally developed in the 1970’s.  As you might expect, its use has surpassed the original design and ICD-9 is no longer effective.  It simply cannot be stretched or updated any further to support 21^st century medicine and healthcare.      

United States is the only industrial nation that has not upgraded its morbidity classification system.  By upgrading to ICD-10 we will improve our ability to monitor and respond to international health events, increase the value of theUS’s investment in SNOMED-CT®, and help provider organizations to achieve better benefits from the electronic health record (EHR). 

Briefly, ICD-9: 

• Does not have adequate specificity and detail.
• Is running out of capacity and its limited structural design cannot accommodate new advances in medicine, medical technology, or the rapidly growing need for quality data.
• Is obsolete and no longer reflects current knowledge of disease processes, medical terminology or 21^st century practices of medicine.
• Impedes the use of a standardized system needed to compare costs and outcomes from different medical technologies and specialties.
• Cannot support theUnited States’ transition to an interoperable health data exchange format.  

In summary, replacing the ICD-9 system with ICD-10 will help us to better maintain clinical data comparability with the rest of the world regarding conditions and diseases that require healthcare services.  ICD-10 makes it easier, and this directly affects cancer registrars, to share disease and mortality data during these critical times for public health.  

Cancer Registrars are already asking what the “ripple effect” will be for them.  The answer is simple, we don’t know yet.  Perhaps there will be change, but until ICD-10 is fully implemented the cancer registrar would be better served by developing an understanding of what is needed to analyze and report accurate and quality data in the 21^st century and adopting a mindset that welcomes expanded use of cancer registry data and patient care outcomes.

To learn more about ICD-10 visit the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) website by clicking here.  Check back to our website for future posts about what is happening with ICD-10 and other planned training events such as webinars, white paper summaries and more.  

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Michele Webb creator of  http://www.RegistryMindset.com the cancer registrar’s best online resource, is a nationally recognized, certified cancer registrar, committed to Cancer Registry leadership and professional education as a coach, mentor, motivational speaker and author.  You have permission to repost this article as long as do not alter it in any way and give a link back and credit to the author and this URL.