American Hospital Association Announces Plans to Implement Bi-annual ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS Code Updates
On September 14, a meeting of the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee Meeting was held, in which the finalized agenda for the updates related to ICD-10-CM/PCS was published. Included in the agenda are details of the addition of ICD-10-CM/PCS code releases effective April 1 of each year in addition to the existing October 1 update. The ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee had initially proposed this plan in March of 2021, and ultimately made the decision to implement this change for 2022.
The addition of the April 1 ICD-10 code updates for both diagnosis coding (CM) and inpatient services (PCS) is new; and per the agenda the new codes will be released in the preceding November of each year. The updates effective October 1 each year will continue to be released over the summer each year.
The existing established process will be used, including presenting & hearing proposals for consideration, requesting and reviewing public comments, and finalizing and announcing the new codes. The code update process will involve the release of new code files, coding guidelines, and coding advice. For 2022, CMS has recommended using a phased-in approach with limited April 1 code updates.
Per the American Hospital Association (AHA), additional information will continue to be provided in conjunction with the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting process and annual IPPS rulemaking.
To review the meeting agendas and presentations, including the timeline for ICD-10 code updates, click on the link: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/icd/icd10cm_maintenance.htm.
