Unlocking the Analytic Value of ICD-10 Disease Classification System

The new International Classification of Diseases, 10^th Edition, Clinical Modification/Procedure Coding System (ICD-10) was introduced to enhance the specificity of the codes used to identify diagnoses. Though the implementation date for ICD-10 was postponed by the Department of Health and Human Services, it has proposed October 1, 2014 as the new compliance date, and the new standard is expected to be mandated for all healthcare providers.
 

In the new report How to Prepare for the Analytic Value of ICD-10, Truven Health Analytics projects the improvements it expects to stem from the new system and outlines best practices for healthcare professionals to get the most out of the new standard.  Following are some of the key observations from the report:

• ICD-10 Will Improve Quality: Truven Health Analytics believes that replacing ICD-9 with ICD-10 will provide more precise and comprehensive data elements for measuring healthcare service quality, safety and efficiency. 

• Proactive Health Management Panels: It will be essential for healthcare professionals to convene a series of panels to identify opportunities for using ICD-10 diagnosis information to better target specific interventions, highlighting specific clinical data that would prioritize patients or even indicate a specific intervention.

• Retrospective Evaluation Panels: In addition to pro-active analytics, experts in performance measurement should comprehensively review new ICD-10 “combination,” “complication,” and “etiology” codes, to anticipate the opportunity for enhanced performance measurement specifying complications and severity.

Our Perspective:  Although there is reason to hope that the enhanced clinical specificity available with the transition to ICD-10 will provide new value to analytic methods, it is imperative that healthcare professionals start preparing now to extract the full value from the new coding system. We remain committed to helping our clients continue to improve healthcare quality and cost by leveraging robust data and analytics and we feel that ICD-10 will help that process.