The International Classification of Diseases Clinical Modification, 9th Revision (ICD-9 CM) is a list of codes intended for the classification of diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or disease.
The format for ICD-9 diagnoses codes is a decimal placed after the first three characters and two possible add-on characters following: xxx. xx. ICD-9 PCS were used to report procedures for inpatient hospital services from Volume 3, which represent procedures that were done at inpatient hospital facilities.
13,000 codesThe current ICD-9-CM system consists of ∼13,000 codes and is running out of numbers.
The ICD-9-CM codes are for the disorder or disorders you are treating while the CPT codes are for reporting the procedure or procedures you performed. The ICD-9-CM is coordinated and maintained by the federal government while the AMA maintains and updates the CPT codes.
Currently, the U.S. is the only industrialized nation still utilizing ICD-9-CM codes for morbidity data, though we have already transitioned to ICD-10 for mortality.
ICD-9 uses mostly numeric codes with only occasional E and V alphanumeric codes. Plus, only three-, four- and five-digit codes are valid. ICD-10 uses entirely alphanumeric codes and has valid codes of up to seven digits.
One year later, WHO advised a series of ICD-9 specifications. Several years later in 1975, ICD-9 was published with its implementation becoming formalized in 1979. During this time, the number of diagnosis codes was expanded upon and the development of a procedural coding system made official headway.
If you need to look up the ICD code for a particular diagnosis or confirm what an ICD code stands for, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website to use their free searchable database of current ICD-10 codes.
In a concise statement, ICD-9 is the code used to describe the condition or disease being treated, also known as the diagnosis. CPT is the code used to describe the treatment and diagnostic services provided for that diagnosis.
On October 1, 2013, the ICD-9 code sets will be replaced by ICD-10 code sets. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule on January 16, 2009, adopting ICD-10-CM (clinical modifier) and ICD-10-PCS (procedure coding) system.
A CPT code is a medical procedure code. It refers to the procedure the doctor or care provider will do on you. An ICD 10 code is a diagnosis code. It refers to the REASON the procedure is being performed in the first place.