Spacecraft crash injury, sea lion attack and other oddities of ICD-10
The much delayed ICD-10 transition has been on the minds of healthcare providers for years, but medical coding is usually a little dry for mainstream media headlines. With the number of codes soon to approach 140,000, however, they are starting to get very specific—and general public is beginning to notice.
Tech-focused Wired magazine pointed out that we now finally have a code for “Drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from burning water-skis.”
Alabama’s AL.com cited a kooky ICD-10 list from the state’s medical association that included both “Bitten by orca, initial encounter” and “Sucked into a jet engine, subsequent encounter.”
And while not a mainstream publication, the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine would like any victims of “Problems in relationship with in-laws” to know there is now a code that can capture their situation as well.
Of course, more granularity in the codes will ultimately help the healthcare system capture more information, but you can’t help but smirk at some of the absurdly specific codes. What’s your favorite new code? Reach out to us on Twitter and let us know!
Evan joined TriMed in 2011, writing primarily for Health Imaging. Prior to diving into medical journalism, Evan worked for the Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis. He also has worked in public relations and education. Evan studied journalism at the University of Missouri, with an emphasis on broadcast media.