As it did with ICD-9, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will be updating ICD-10 to new codes when appropriate. And CMS said during a March 9 meeting that beginning Oct. 1, 2016 it will inject another 5,500 codes to the diagnostic library.
The new codes will come exactly one year after ICD-10's compliance deadline, when it replaced the dated ICD-9 code set.
Of the 3,651 new codes, 97 percent will update the cardiovascular and lower joint body systems, CMS said. There will also be new codes for a face transplant, hand transplant and donor organ perfusion, CMS said.
The large number of new codes is due to a partial freeze on updates prior to the original launch on October 1, 2015 according to CMS. The 2016 update will include the backlog of all proposals for changes to the code set.
The new and revised ICD-10-CM (Clinical Modification) and ICD-10 PCS (Procedure Coding System) codes will be included in the hospital inpatient prospective payment system proposed rule for fiscal 2017, which is expected next month. Diagnostic Related Group changes will also launch on Oct. 1, according to CMS.
Looking ahead to 2017, CMS said it plans to add about 1,900 diagnosis codes and 3,651 hospital inpatient procedure codes to the ICD-10 coding system for healthcare claims in that year.
Written comments on the codes will be accepted until April 8.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
