How ICD-10 Could Help Track Ebola Outbreak [Infographic]
With more than 3,000 known Ebola cases and 1,500 deaths from the virus, public health officials and healthcare organizations are eager to track the spread of Ebola and share this data with others in the industry.
Currently, there is no specific ICD-9 code for Ebola; it's tracked in hospitals that have not updated to ICD-10 with code 078.89, "Other specified diseases due to viruses." However, the ICD-10 update includes one specific code for Ebola, A98.4, which would support biosurveillance and allow the United States (the last industrialized nation still using ICD-9) to track disease outbreaks, research health threats and share data internationally.
The infographic below from the Coalition for ICD-10 illustrates how ICD-10, the World Health Organization's most up-to-date code language for monitoring global health threats, could support the worldwide biosurveillance of the Ebola outbreak.
