News: FY 2023 IPPS proposed rule includes nearly 1,500 proposed ICD-10-CM code changes

CMS recently released the fiscal year (FY) 2023 inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) proposed rule, which includes 1,495 proposed changes to the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code set. A high volume of the changes related to the coding of brain illness and injury, with a focus on dementia-related diagnoses, according to HealthLeaders.

Though the volume of ICD-10-CM proposed code changes is relatively high, CMS only proposed a minimal number of new ICD-10-PCS procedure codes, including codes for reporting knee joint replacements.

The proposed code changes also include a reissue of the COVID-19 vaccine status-related ICD-10-CM codes and the COVID-19 vaccine administration ICD-10-PCS codes that were implemented on April 1, 2022.

Once finalized, the new ICD-10-CM/PCS code changes will go into effect starting on October 1, 2022.

CMS is also soliciting public comments on how the reporting of social determinants of health (SDOH) diagnosis codes may improve the ability to capture severity of illness, complexity of service, and/or utilization of hospital resources. CMS also says it is interested in feedback on how it can foster the documentation and reporting of SDOH codes.

Unlike previous years, the proposed rule does not include any new MS-DRGs for FY 2023, keeping the number of MS-DRGs at 767 for the next fiscal year. Though it doesn’t include any new MS-DRGs, CMS says it has a number of proposals for technical refinements to MS-DRG assignments, and it is requesting comments on issues related to the classification of rare diseases or conditions that are represented by low volumes in claims data within the MS-DRG structure.

All comments on the proposed rule are due to CMS no later than June 17.

Editor’s note: To read HealthLeaders’ coverage of the proposed rule, click here. To read the full proposal, click here.