The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2018 ICD-10-CM files last week, exciting many in the healthcare industry. The 2018 files contain information on the ICD-10-CM coding updates for the 2018 fiscal year.
These 2018 ICD-10-CM codes are to be used for discharges occurring from Oct. 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2018, and for patient encounters occurring from Oct. 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2018.
CMS also has provided information regarding the general equivalence mappings (GEMs). The 2018 GEMs will be posted in August 2017. The 2018 ICD-10-CM guidelines, POA exempt codes, and conversion table will be posted later, once they are finalized and received from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CMS 2018 ICD-10-CM files include the following:
There are approximately 363 new codes, 142 deletions, and more than 250 code revisions. Some of the revisions were not in the proposed changes for 2018 and were added to the release for 2018.
A noteworthy change was made to the codes for substance abuse remission, which will be classified by severity as mild, moderate, or severe. The following are a few of the new codes from Chapter 2, Neoplasms (C00-D49):
And at the beginning of Chapter 4 Endocrine, Nutritional, and Metabolic Diseases (E00-E89), you will see these new codes have been added for 2018:
Also, there are some new codes for myocardial infarction and heart failure that we will all need to review carefully.
It is recommended that health information management (HIM) coding professionals and others access these files and begin to look over the new, revised, and deleted codes. You can access the files at the following link: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD10/2018-ICD-10-CM-and-GEMs.html
Back on May 16, we had the release of the 2018 ICD-10 Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) files for FY 2018. Those files are posted online at: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD10/2018-ICD-10-PCS-and-GEMs.html
Along with the GEMs being released in August, we can expect that the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule for FY 2018 will also be released around that time. The early release of the 2018 ICD-10-CM files allows the healthcare industry to prepare and be ready for Oct. 1.
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