ICD-10 and workers' compensation

Among the few health care entities not federally required to move to ICD-10 codes starting after Oct. 1 are state workers’ compensation (WC) programs.

That being said, at least 20 states have enacted legislation requiring that their WC programs comply with ICD-10 beginning Oct. 1 anyway. Other states have similar legislation pending or will require ICD-10 codes for specific claim types.

The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) has released a chart outlining whether and how each state WC program accepts ICD-10 diagnosis codes(wedi.org). WEDI will regularly update the chart as it receives news from the states. If your state is among those not adopting ICD-10 for WC, you may need to accommodate and maintain dual processing systems, so you can bill both WC for ICD-9 and everyone else for ICD-10.

– Kent Moore, Senior Strategist for Physician Payment for the American Academy of Family Physicians