- Kathy C Trawick: Health Information Management Department, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, USA. TrawickKathy@uams.edu
ICD-10 will allow for a broader range of codes for each medical discipline including radiology. The radiology discipline will enhance to 16 code sections in the ICD-10-PCS and three sections in the ICD-10-CM, allowing for more specificity and a clearer impression of the body part affected. This article breaks down the transition process from ICD-9 into three smaller phases: planning, implementation, and go-live. Planning is the longest and most intense phase of any major project, but it is with careful planning that makes project implementation a success. When the software has been implemented, the team must not stop at this point assuming the project is completed when the mandated implementation date has passed.There needs to be continual monitoring of the system processes, coding updates, and software upgrades which will continue with ICD-10, just as it has with ICD-9 for decades.