The ICD-10 Ruling is in: ICD-10 to be implemented in 2013

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on January 15 that it would replace the ICD-9-CM code set with ICD-10 in 2013. This means that all students and coders must switch to the new system by the implementation date, October 1, 2013.

This is good news for coders and for Elsevier because it establishes a plan for moving to the new code set, while also allowing two extra years for the implementation of the new codes.

In order to make the transition to ICD-10 smooth for our customers, Elsevier's plans for ICD-10 include:

• We will publish a draft ICD-10 manual this August in addition to the ICD-9-CM reference
• Starting in August 2009, Elsevier Coding textbooks will be dual coded, so that exercises show how students would find the answers in the ICD-10 codes as well as the ICD-9-CM codes
• We will communicate changes and gather feedback from customers via this website, www.icd10educators.com