Page 5 - ICD-9-CM

INTRODUCTION

The International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification
(ICD-9-CM) is based on the official version of the World Health Organization's
9th Revision, International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9). ICD-9 is designed
for the classification of morbidity and mortality information for statistical
purposes, and for the indexing of hospital records by disease and operations, for
data storage and retrieval. The historical background of the International
Classification of Diseases may be found in the Introduction to ICD-9 (Manual of
the International Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death, World
Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 1977).
ICD-9-CM is a clinical modification of the World Health Organization's
International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9). The term "clinical" is
used to emphasize the modification's intent: to serve as a useful tool in the area
of classification of morbidity data for indexing of medical records, medical care
review, and ambulatory and other medical care programs, as well as for basic
health statistics. To describe the clinical picture of the patient, the codes must be
more precise than those needed only for statistical groupings and trend analysis..
THE ICD-9-CM COORDINATION AND MAINTENANCE COMMITTEE
Annual modifications are made to the ICD-9-CM through the ICD-9-CM
Coordination and Maintenance Committee (C&M). The Committee is made up of
representatives from two Federal Government agencies, the National Center for
Health Statistics and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The
Committee holds meetings twice a year which are open to the public.
Modifcation proposals submitted to the Committee for consideration are
presented at the meetings for public discussion. Those modification proposals
which are approved are incorporated into the official government version of the
ICD-9-CM and become effective for use the October 1 of the year following their
presentation. This CD-ROM contains the modifications approved from the March
2008 - March 2009 C&M cycle.
This CD-ROM is the only official federal government version of the ICD-9-CM. It
may be purchased through the Government Printing Office.
CONVENTIONS USED IN THE TABULAR LIST
The ICD-9-CM Tabular List for both the Disease and Procedure Classification
makes use of certain abbreviations, punctuation, and other conventions which
need to be clearly understood.
Abbreviations
NEC Not elsewhere classifiable. The category number for the term including NEC is
to be used only when the coder lacks the information necessary to code the
term to a more specific category.
NOS Not otherwise specified. This abbreviation is the equivalent of "unspecified."
Punctuation
[ ] Brackets are used to enclose synonyms, alternative wordings, or
explanatory phrases.

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