ICD-11 Officially Released for Implementation
On February 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the international Classification of Diseases (ICD), 11th revision, coding set for WHO member countries to implement worldwide. According to their press release, 35 countries are already using ICD-11 for recording and reporting mortality and morbidity statistics.
Included in this version are approximately 17,000 codes, with over 100,00 medical diagnostic terms. For the first time, ICD is fully digital with an integrated application programming interface (API). This allows index-based search algorithm interpretations of more that 1.6 million terms. Other updates include:
- Rare disease reporting
- Support of perinatal and maternal coding
- Grade and stage coding for cancer
- Clinical descriptions and diagnostic recommendations for mental health conditions
- Morbidity coding and reporting including primary care
With release of ICD-11, the 11th version of ICD officially comes into effect, and the WHO is encouraging all member countries to implement ICD-11. In September 2021, the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) issued recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advising on a research agenda to evaluate the use of ICD-11 in the United States. So, while the timeline for a U.S. transition to ICD-11 is still uncertain, planning for transition to ICD-11 is underway.
