Medical Coding Classifications

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Medical Coding classifications are useful for many different applications in the medical and medical informatics field. ISO 17115 defines a classification as 'an exhaustive set of mutually exclusive categories to aggregate data at a pre-prescribed level of specialization for a specific purpose'. Thus the different medical diagnosis and procedures are given universal code numbers. This makes it easy to track diseases. Medical codes are particularly very useful during the insurance claim process. These are the different types of medical codes.

• The diagnostic codes group the different types of diseases/ symptoms/ disorders /signs /
• The procedural codes are numbers or alphanumeric codes used to identify specific health interventions taken by medical professionals.
• Pharmaceutical codes are used in medical classification to uniquely identify medication.
• Topography codes indicate a specific location in the body.

The World Health Organization (WHO) constitution makes international classifications mandatory so that there is a consensual, meaningful and useful framework which all the different governments, providers and consumers can use in common. For more details on WHO FIC see http://www.who.int/classifications/en/FamilyDocument2007.pdf

The different types of WHO FIC classifications are

Reference Classification

• International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
• International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)
• International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI)

Derived Classification (based on the reference classifications (i.e. ICD and ICF)

• International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, Third Edition (ICD-O-3)
• ICD-10 for Mental and Behavioural Disorders
• Application of the International Classification of Diseases to Dentistry and Stomatology, 3rd edition (ICD-DA)
• Application of the International Classification of Diseases to Neurology (ICD-10-NA)
• International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY)

Related Classification (those that partially refer to reference classifications)

• International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2)
• International Classification of External Causes of Injury (ICECI)
• Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC/DDD)
• Technical aids for persons with disabilities: Classification and terminology (ISO9999)

Do contact Outsource Strategies International (OSI) the US based BPO leader for outsourcing solutions in medical coding, medical billing and medical transcription.

Labels: ICD, ICF, medical coding, mediical classification, reference classification, WHO FIC

posted by Outsource Strategies International @ 6:10 PM