My initial thoughts on ICD-11 were from a rational, business standpoint for the
healthcare industry. COVID has affected the business side of healthcare as well as
the daily front-line hospital scene of giving care to patients. The rate at which
patients are being seen in medical facilities all over the world has spiked
exponentially. This requires a more streamlined and efficient way of coding and
billing for medical services. It seems ICD-11 should consider those needs in the new
update. I was glad to see the following improvements that ICD-11 will offer:
a common language that can be used globally by medical professionals to
share standardized information.
17,000 unique codes for injuries, diseases, and causes of death. This allows
for expansive code combinations that will cover more than 1.6 million
diagnoses or clinical situations.
a digital format designed to be more user-friendly and provide multilingual
capabilities so documentation can be made available in all translatable
languages.
Updated diagnostic recommendations for mental health conditions
Digital available for COVID-19 certificates for proof of immunization.
New chapters on areas such as sexual health, gaming disorders (i.e.,
addictive disorders), and traditional medicine. (WHO's new International
Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) comes into effect, 2022)
ICD-11 brings an updated streamlined coding system that will integrate with
electronic health records easier.
AAPC reports that ICD-11 has added five new chapters, a new coding
scheme that utilizes Arabic chapter numbers, and will have an additional letter
in the second character space. (Ericson, 2016)
The biggest benefit of ICD-11 for countries to focus on is the new feature that will
allow the increase in translatable languages and common languages. This will bring
a new level of uniformity for reporting data.
References
Ericson, B. (2016, July 1). WHO Winds Its Gears for ICD-11. Retrieved from AAPC.com:
https://www.aapc.com/blog/35686-who-winds-its-gears-for-icd-11/
WHO's new International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) comes into effect. (2022, February 11).
Retrieved from WHO.int: https://www.who.int/news/item/11-02-2022-who-s-new-
international-classification-of-diseases-(icd-11)-comes-into-effect
