Should there be ICD-10 codes for medical errors

Carl Natale
by Carl Natale
Should there be ICD-10 codes for medical errors

There is a lot of attention being given to the reports that medical errors are the third leading cause of death. But the numbers behind that are only estimates based upon an outdated report.

There isn't a consistent way to capture that data. Marin A. Makary, MD, MPH, of the department of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tell that “The ICD-10 coding system has limited ability to capture most types of medical error."

Makary argues that death certificates should list more than the ICD-10 code for the cause of death. If contributing factors could be listed, then the Centers for Disease Control can get better data.

If there was a way to track medical error statistics before they resulted in death, we could make healthcare safer.

Would adding an ICD-10 code for medical error be useful in morbidity and mortality analytics?