Although we discuss technology in this column, the digital age is really about data. Data will drive the future of health care, and technology enables the capture, analysis, and use of these data to improve health care. The most significant thing to happen to health care data in the last 30 years is the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10).1 

The ICD-10 is a diagnostic and procedural coding system implemented by the World Health Organization in 1993 as a replacement for the ICD-9, released in the 1970s. The purpose of the ICD-10 is to support the worldwide systematic recording, analysis, interpretation, and comparison of morbidity and mortality data. 1  The need to transition from the ICD-9 to the ICD-10 is cited for several reasons, including elimination of outdated ICD-9 terminology, insufficient specificity, and rapidly declining code space resulting from numerous...

You do not currently have access to this content.