How Many ICD-10 Codes?
Medical coding is a difficult considering there are codes for services (CPT) and diagnosis (ICD-9) codes. There are 7,800 CPT codes, 3,824 ICD-9-PCS codes and 14,025 ICD-9-CM codes. For the experienced coder, this means that you have been exposed to over 25,000 medical codes!
Although you might have mastered over 25,000 codes, get ready to be blown away by the staggering number of ICD-10 codes that will be required to be used in 2013. There are 68, 069 ICD-10-CM codes and 72,589 ICD-10-PCS codes. This means that you could be exposed to over 148,000 codes which is almost 6 times more than the number of codes you are currently exposed to.
Learning six more times the codes will not be easy considering that the new ICD system will require you to know more about anatomy due to the greater level of specificity required in the new coding system. What this means is that you need to start learning NOW not later! A great place to start is Understanding ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS by Mary Jo Bowie & Regina Schaffer (http://amzn.to/omeuDr).
