Preparing for the FY2024 ICD-10-CM Code Updates

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the FY 2024 ICD-10-CM code updates, which will be effective from October 1, 2023. The update includes over 433 diagnosis code changes, including 395 code additions, 25 code deletions, and 13 code revisions.

It is essential for coding professionals to keep up to date with these annual code changes and understand how to apply them. It is also important that all applicable team members, including coders, physicians, and documentation specialists, are educated regarding the code and documentation requirements.

Highlights of the new codes for various medical conditions and procedures include:

• New Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) codes. These new ICD-10 codes describe the density of breast tissue on mammograms. The levels of density are recorded in the mammogram report using letters A through D. The new subcategory R92.3, mammographic density found on imaging of breast, has been created to capture the distinct types of breast density found during mammography.
• New category W44, foreign body entering or through a natural orifice, which has been added to identify more serious types of foreign bodies entering or through a natural orifice. The American Academy of Pediatrics requested this addition to the ICD-10-CM classification structure, and 123 new ICD-10-CM codes have been added for FY 2024 to more accurately and specifically identify the type of foreign body and its location in the body. There were also updates and revisions to codes related to external causes of morbidity, such as injuries and accidents. These changes will help healthcare providers more accurately document the cause and nature of injuries, which can help inform treatment and prevention efforts.
• New codes related to social determinants of health and their impact on children's wellbeing. Specifically, five new codes were added to category Z62 to better identify problems related to upbringing and to better clarify the specific caregiver or situation the child is involved in.
• New codes requested by the Unified Parkinson’s Advocacy Council (UPAC) to enhance the tracking and the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
• New chronic migraine codes, including codes for chronic migraine with aura, and coders can further specify that diagnosis by answering the intractable/not intractable and status migrainosus questions.
• Twenty-one new diagnosis codes have been created to identify extraocular muscle entrapment. These codes will uniquely identify the entrapment of the six extraocular muscles that control movement of the eye. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) received a proposal requesting the creation of ICD-10-CM codes for extraocular muscle entrapment for coding specificity and research.
• Six new codes have been added to ICD-10-CM code set for Acinetobacter baumannii.
• The ICD-10-CM code set for desmoid tumor has been expanded to include eleven new codes that offer greater specificity into the type and site of the tumor.
• Updates were made to the ICD-10-CM code set for sickle cell disease (SCD) with dactylitis.