AHIMA: ICD-11 on horizon, but need to get through ICD-10 first

Managing information in the 21st Century and whether to code or not to code was the keynote address presented Oct. 4 at the American Health Information Management Association conference by T. Bedirhan Ustun, MD, PhD, team coordinator of classification, terminology and standards in the Department of Health statistics at the World Health Organization. During his keynote address, Ustun noted that as he had visited a number of vendors on the exhibit hall floor on Monday afternoon, he was hesitant to speak. "Procrastinating over ICD-10 is not a good thing. It is more wrong to not make the transition," he said. "Healthcare is a very high information-intensive sector and integration is needed. Healthcare information is of vital importance for its patient safety, quality and efficiency." Health information systems and standards need to be built jointly.