Prepare your medical practice for new, revised, and deleted ICD-10-CM codes that take effect October 1, 2022
Every October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues new, revised, and deleted ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes. It’s important for medical practices to understand these changes and what they might mean in terms of documentation requirements, revenue impact, and more. This year, there are more than 1,000 new medical codes, 28 revised codes, and 287 deleted codes impacting nearly every specialty. These changes take effect right around the corner—October 1, 2022—for all payers, including Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, and commercial payers.
Remember: Once October 1st is here, payers may deny deleted and unspecified diagnosis codes. It’s in your best financial interest to understand the changes, update systems, and strive for coding compliance that leads to revenue integrity and denial risk mitigation.
What’s new in the 2023 ICD-10-CM update?
Here’s a brief overview of what medical practices can expect with the 2023 ICD-10-CM code updates:
1. New diagnosis codes for housing and economic circumstances. The 2023 ICD-10-CM update brings with it three new social determinants of health (SDOH) codes for problems related to housing and economic circumstances. These include Z59.82 (transportation insecurity), Z59.86 (financial insecurity), and Z59.87 (material hardship). All SDOH codes are important because they provide a context for understanding challenges and barriers to optimal health. Some SDOH may even cause physical ailments, or they might exacerbate them.
2. New diagnosis codes for dementia. The 2023 ICD-10-CM update includes nearly 100 new codes related to dementia. Examples include:
Dementia with behavioral disturbance (F02.81-, F02.A1-, F02.B1-, F02.C1-)
Dementia with mood disturbance (F02.83, F02.A3, F02.B3, F02.C3)
Dementia with psychotic disturbance (F02.82, F02.A2, F02.B2, F02.C2)
Dementia without behavioral disturbance (F02.80, F02.A0, F02.B0, F02.C0)
In addition to understanding the code changes, be sure to review updated coding guidelines to ensure accurate dementia coding. With dementia on the rise worldwide, these codes tell an important story for researchers and others.
3. New diagnosis codes for OB/GYN conditions. The 2023 ICD-10-CM update includes nearly 400 new codes, including 168 new endometriosis codes (N80) that give additional granularity to anatomic location, depth, and laterality.
4. New diagnosis codes for patient noncompliance. There are several new codes for patient noncompliance with medical treatment and regimen (Z91.1) and caregiver’s noncompliance with patient’s medical treatment and regimen (Z91.A). These codes will provide an important glimpse into potential root causes of poor outcomes.
5. New diagnosis codes for methamphetamine overdose. Specifically, there is a new code (T43.65) for poisoning by, adverse effect of, and underdosing of methamphetamines performed due to self-harm or assault). Details such as whether the overdose was accidental, intentional self-harm, an assault, or undetermined will be important to ensure accurate code assignment.
Preparing for the diagnosis code changes to ensure coding compliance
A few words of advice:
1. This article only touches the surface of the 2023 diagnosis code changes. There are plenty of other new codes to review. For example, there are new codes for fetal anomalies, loss of consciousness, short stature, muscle wasting of the back, newborn sleep disorders, electric (assisted) bicycle injuries, and more.
2. Not all diagnosis codes will be relevant for every specialty. Narrow down the codes that pertain to your specialty and patient population as you try to understand the changes.
3. Assess documentation impact. Some of these codes will require new or different documentation. Learn which ones may require more specificity so you can start documenting that way now.
4. Invest in education. Between now and October 1, provide training for coders, billers, and physicians so everyone is on the same page about the upcoming changes.
Learn how edgeMED can help ensure revenue integrity and elevate your medical practice at https://www.edgemed.com and be sure to visit the Healthy Snacks Blog for more expert insights, best practices and industry trends.
