Story on ICD-10 contains inaccuracies

A story about 3M consulting services to assist hospitals with the transition to ICD-10 contains several gross inaccuracies.

First, it mentions "ICD-10 concepts and terms". ICD-10 does not have concepts and terms, nor does its predecessor ICD-9-CM. It has codes, categories, and titles. The use of the phrase "concepts and terms" is highly misleading as it suggests that ICD-10 is a concept-based terminology. Although I have issues with those as well, they are lightyears of ahead of ICD-10's archaic structure. So the implication is that ICD-10 is something much better than it really is.

Second, the story lists 4 purposes for ICD-coding of diagnosis, and lists the single most important one, reimbursement, last. Were it not for reimbursement and bureaucratic requirements, no one would assign ICD codes for clinical care, quality, or epidemiological purposes.

In summary, this article misleadingly paints a much more favorable picture of ICD-10 than is warranted by the facts.