FY 2024 ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting
Published on
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Did You Know?
The 2024 ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting were posted to the CMS website on July 6, 2023 (https://www.cms.gov/medicare/icd-10/2024-icd-10-cm). You can also find the guidelines on the CDC ICD-10-CM webpage (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/icd/Comprehensive-Listing-of-ICD-10-CM-Files.htm).
Why It Matters?
“These guidelines have been developed to assist both the healthcare provider and the coder in identifying those diagnoses that are to be reported. The importance of consistent, complete documentation in the medical record cannot be overemphasized. Without such documentation accurate coding cannot be achieved. The entire record should be reviewed to determine the specific reason for the encounter and the conditions treated.” As of July 19th, there are only 73 days to become familiar with the October 1, 2023, changes.
Narrative guideline changes appear in bold text in this document.
What Can You Do?
For Coding and Clinical Documentation Integrity professionals, reading the new guidelines should be a requirement on your summer reading list. In addition to identifying the bolded text, pay attention to each time the guidelines tell you to query the provider if documentation is unclear.
For example, Section 1.A.19: Code Assignment and Clinical Criteria
“The assignment of a diagnosis code is based on the provider’s diagnostic statement that the condition exists. The provider’s statement that the patient has a particular condition is sufficient. Code assignment is not based on clinical criteria used by the provider to establish the diagnosis. If there is conflicting medical record documentation, query the provider.”
Finally, be sure to share this information with your Coding and Clinical Documentation Integrity staff as part of their preparedness plan for the October 1st start of the 2024 CMS Fiscal Year.
Article Author: Beth Cobb, RN, BSN, ACM, CCDS
Beth Cobb, RN, BSN, ACM, CCDS, is the Manager of Clinical Analytics at Medical Management Plus, Inc. Beth has over twenty-five years of experience in healthcare including eleven years in Case Management at a large multi-facility health system. In her current position, Beth is a principle writer for MMP’s Wednesday@One weekly e-newsletter, an active member of our HIPAA Compliance Committee, MMP’s Education Department Program Director and co-developer of MMP’s proprietary Compliance Protection Assessment Tool.
