ICD-10 Section

The ICD-10 Conversion and Version 5010 Transition with the Physician Quality Reporting System

On October 1, 2013, the ICD-9 code sets used to report medical diagnoses and inpatient procedures will be replaced by ICD-10 code sets. To accommodate the ICD-10 code structure, the transaction standards used for electronic health care claims, Version 4010/4010A, must be upgraded to Version 5010 by January 1, 2012.

The transition to ICD-10 is occurring because ICD-9 produces limited data about patients' medical conditions and hospital inpatient procedures. ICD-9 is 30 years old, has outdated terms, and is inconsistent with current medical practice. Also, the structure of ICD-9 limits the number of new codes that can be created, and many ICD-9 categories are full.

ICD-10 codes must be used on all HIPAA transactions, including outpatient claims with dates of service, and inpatient claims with dates of discharge on and after October 1, 2013. Otherwise, your claims and other transactions may be rejected, and you will need to resubmit them with the ICD-10 codes. This could result in delays and may impact your reimbursements, so it is important to start now to prepare for the changeover to ICD-10 codes.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Web site https://www.cms.gov/ICD10 has official CMS resources to help you prepare for Version 5010 and ICD-10. CMS will continue to add new tools and information to the site throughout the course of the transition, so check the site frequently for updated resources. Additional resources are also available in the “Downloads” below.