ICD-10 Takes Effect

ICD-10 Takes Effect October 1, 2015

Are You Ready?

By Lourie W. Reichenberg, LPC

• After October 1, 2015, all insurance submissions for services that occurred October 1 and later must use ICD-10 codes and NOT ICD-9 codes.
• Services prior to October 1, 2015 can still be submitted and must use the IDC-9 codes.
• ICD-10 and ICD-9 codes cannot be used on the same insurance submission form.
• ICD-10 codes are included in DSM-5 (these are the codes on the right of the disorder)
• In addition, the DSM-5 Coding Update Supplement is available free of charge, in English or Spanish, from: www.dsm.psychiatryonline.orgYou can also register at the APA website to receive DSM-5 updates
• The World Health Organization provides a 267-page pdf document free of charge at:  www.who.int/classifications
• The Centers for Medicare or Medicaid Services (www.cms.gov). CMS.gov also has a “Quick-Start” guide and has announced some “flexibility” for the first 12 months of coding using ICD-10 (check out announcements and guidelines at the same website).  

Where Do I Get the new IDC-10 codes?

ICD-10 Codes for classification of mental disorders are available online, free of charge from:

What has Changed?

Only the codes have changed. The disorders are still the same. Some of the ICD-10 codes are more specific than ICD-9, with additional course specifiers.

Diagnosis remains the same and all of the guidance you need is provided in DSM-5, and its Coding Update Supplement. Sometimes (as in neurocognitive disorders and substance abuse), clarification is extremely detailed. Look for coding recommendations after the diagnostic criteria in DSM-5.

Remember, ICD-10 was written in 1992 by the World Health Organization. It includes only the names of disorders and their codes, which are used for insurance purposes. It does not have the level of diagnostic detail that is found in DSM-5.

ICD-10 was implemented worldwide, with only a few “stragglers”, including the U.S., delaying implementation until now.

Future Concerns: ICD-11 is currently in the works and expected to be published by the World Health Organization in 2018.

VACC Newsletter editor Lourie Reichenberg, LPC is author of DSM-5 Essentials: The Savvy Clinician’s Guide to the Changes in Criteria. She is in private practice in Northern Virginia.