TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - Magnitude of impact, overall and on subspecialties, of transitioning in radiology from ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes
JO  - Journal of the American College of Radiology: JACR
A1  - Fleming, Margaret
A1  - MacFarlane, Dan
A1  - Torres, William E.
A1  - Duszak, Richard
SP  - 1155
EP  - 1161
VL  - 12
IS  - 11
N2  - PURPOSE: Converting the nation's International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnosis coding system, from 14,025 ICD-9 to 69,823 ICD-10 codes, is projected to have enormous financial and operational implications. We aimed to assess the magnitude of impact that this code conversion will have on radiology claims. <br><br>METHODS: The most frequently billed ICD-9 diagnosis codes for 588,523 radiology claims from five hospitals and affiliated outpatient sites during a 12-month period were mapped to matching ICD-10 codes using a Medicare-endorsed tool. The code-conversion impact factor was calculated for the entire radiology system, and each individual subspecialty division. <br><br>RESULTS: Of all ICD-9 codes, only 3,407 (24.3%) were used to report any primary diagnosis. Of all claims, 50% were billed using just 37 (0.3%) primary codes; 75% with 131 (0.5%), and 90% with 348 (2.5%). Those 348 ICD-9 codes mapped onto 2,048 ICD-10 codes (5.9-fold impact), representing just 2.9% of all ICD-10 codes. By subspecialty, the conversion impact factor varied greatly, from 1.1 for breast (11 ICD-9 to 12 ICD-10 codes) to 28.8 for musculoskeletal imaging (146 to 4,199). The community division, reflecting a general practice mix, saw a conversion impact factor of 5.8 (254 to 1,471). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Fewer than 3% of all ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes are used to report an overwhelming majority of all radiology claims. Although the number of commonly used codes will expand 5.9-fold overall, musculoskeletal imaging will experience a projected 28.8-fold explosion. Radiology practices should target their ICD educational and operational conversion efforts in an evidence-based manner.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1546-1440
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2015.06.014
ID  - ref1
ER  -