Where in the World is ICD-11?

35 countries have formally adopted the new code set.

In February of 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the first official version of ICD-11. With this release of ICD-11 2022, the eleventh version of the International Classification of Disease (ICD) officially went into effect. And in February of 2023, just a few weeks ago, the WHO released the ICD-11 2023 version.

Since its initial release last year, the WHO has continued to encourage all member countries to move to ICD-11 and WHO has been working with early adopters. They have an online maintenance platform where essentially anyone can submit a proposal or comment on the WHO family of international classifications. The ICD-11 2023 version includes “extensive input from early adopters, translators, scientists, and partners with over 500 proposals processed” since the ICD-11 2022 release.

Early last year, the WHO reported that ICD-11 had been adopted by 35 countries. With the 2023 release of the code set, they are reporting 64 member states are in different stages of ICD-11 implementation, which could refer to adoption for either mortality reporting, morbidity reporting, or both. So, where is ICD-11? Well, it’s definitely out there, in use, in the world.

Meanwhile, here in the U.S., we’ve made some recent strides with ICD. For instance, recently the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officially announced the Medicare Advantage capitation rates for calendar year 2024 which includes an updated risk adjustment model based on ICD-10-CM codes (meaning they have now updated the model to use ICD-10, which the rest of us have been using since 2015). This is just one example of how we’ve imbedded ICD in a model that has widespread effects. It’s this complexity that demands careful consideration and research on the implications in the U.S., before undertaking an ICD transition. I can also report that the U.S. is poised to make more progress on this research.

I previously reported that the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) has been urging action that will enable the U.S. to make informed decisions regarding the adoption of ICD-11. The NCVHS first issued recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services in November 2019 and again in September 2021. These recommendations included a research agenda to evaluate the use of ICD-11 in the U.S. More recently, at the December 2022 full committee meeting, the NCVHS voted on and passed a proposal to establish an ICD-11 workgroup, including subject matter experts and other stakeholders.

According to the proposal presented in December 2022, the overarching goal of the ICD-11 workgroup is to “craft recommendations to inform development of sound U.S. policy for the transition to and implementation of ICD-11.” With this workgroup expected to begin this year, it’s likely we’ll be hearing more about ICD-11 in the coming months.

NCVHS meeting materials, including recommendations, reports and presentations, are available on the NCVHS website. For those who want to keep up with ICD-11 in the world, the International Federation of Health Information Management Associations (IFHIMA) has multiple ICD-11 resources.

Of course, The WHO ICD-11 Homepage has a wealth of information, including ICD-11 coding and browser tools, so anyone can explore the ICD-11 codes.