ICD-10 Codes for psychologists
Transition to the ICD-10-CM: What does it mean for psychologists?
By Practice Research and Policy staff
Update: This article has been updated to reflect the announcement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that the transition to ICD-10 will take place on Oct. 1, 2014, rather than Oct. 1, 2013.
Feb. 9, 2012—Beginning Oct. 1, 2014 all entities, including health care providers, covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) must convert to using the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code sets. The mandate represents a fundamental shift for many psychologists and other mental health professionals who are far more attuned to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
Most psychologists were trained using some version of DSM. For other health care providers, the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) – which contains a chapter on mental disorders – is the classification standard.
Over the years, efforts to harmonize these two classifications have resulted in systems with similar (often identical) codes and diagnostic names. In fact, even if psychologists record DSM diagnostic codes for billing purposes, payers recognize the codes as ICD-9-CM – the official version of ICD currently used in the United States. Since 2003, the ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes have been mandated for third-party billing and reporting by HIPAA for all electronic transactions for billing and reimbursement.
http://www.apapracticecentral.org/update/2012/02-09/transition.aspx
