The ICD-10 Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) is an international system of

medical classification A medical classification is used to transform descriptions of medical diagnoses or procedures into standardized statistical code in a process known as clinical coding. Diagnosis classifications list diagnosis codes, which are used to track diseas ...

used for procedural coding. The

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer M ...

, the agency responsible for maintaining the inpatient procedure code set in the U.S., contracted with 3M Health Information Systems in 1995 to design and then develop a procedure classification system to replace Volume 3 of

ICD-9-CM The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a globally used diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. The ICD is maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the directing and coordinating ...

. ICD-9-CM contains a procedure classification;

ICD-10-CM The ICD-10 Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) is a modification of the ICD-10, authorized by the World Health Organization, used as a source for diagnosis codes in the United States of America. It replaces the earlier ICD-9-CM. Adoption Adop ...

does not. ICD-10-PCS is the result. ICD-10-PCS was initially released in 1998. It has been updated annually since that time.

Section structure

Each code consists of seven alphanumeric characters. The first character is the 'section'. The second through seventh characters mean different things in each section. Each character can be any of 34 possible values the ten digits 0-9 and the 24 letters A-H, J-N and P-Z may be used in each character. The letters O and I are excluded to avoid confusion with the numbers 0 and 1. There are no decimals in ICD-10-PCS Of the 72,081 codes in ICD-10-PCS, 62,022 are in the first section, "Medical and surgical".https://www.cms.gov/ICD10/Downloads/pcs_final_report2011.pdf

Root operations

For medical/surgical, these are the root operation codes: 00 alteration; 01 bypass; 02 change; 03 control; 04 creation; 05 destruction; 06 detachment; 07 dilation; 08 division; 09

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic condition ...

; 0B excision; 0C extirpation; 0D extraction; 0F fragmentation; 0G fusion; 0H insertion; 0J inspection; 0K map; 0L occlusion; 0M reattachment; 0N release; 0P removal; 0Q repair; 0R replacement; 0S reposition; 0T resection; 0U supplement ; 0V restriction; 0W revision; 0X transfer; 0Y transplantation They can be grouped into several categories: * take out or eliminate all or a portion of a body part: excision ( sigmoid polypectomy), resection ( total nephrectomy), extraction ( toenail extraction), destruction (

rectal polyp fulguration Radiofrequency ablation (RFA), also called fulguration, is a medical procedure in which part of the electrical conduction system of the heart, tumor or other dysfunctional tissue is ablated using the heat generated from medium frequency alternat ...

), detachment ( below knee amputation). For

biopsies A biopsy is a medical test commonly performed by a surgeon, interventional radiologist, or an interventional cardiologist. The process involves extraction of sample cells or tissues for examination to determine the presence or extent of a disea ...

, "extraction" is used when force is required (as with endometrial biopsy), and "excision" is used when minimal force is involved (as with

liver biopsy Liver biopsy is the biopsy (removal of a small sample of tissue) from the liver. It is a medical test that is done to aid diagnosis of liver disease, to assess the severity of known liver disease, and to monitor the progress of treatment. Medica ...

). See also ectomy. * involve putting in or on, putting back, or moving living body part: transplantation ( heart transplant), reattachment ( finger reattachment), reposition (

reposition undescended testicle Cryptorchidism, also known as undescended testis, is the failure of one or both testes to descend into the scrotum. The word is from Greek () 'hidden' and () 'testicle'. It is the most common birth defect of the male genital tract. About 3% of ...

), transfer (

tendon transfer A tendon transfer is a surgical process in which the insertion of a tendon is moved, but the origin remains in the same location. Tendon transfer involves redistribution of muscle power, not recreation. Tendons are transferred at the distal attac ...

) * take out or eliminate solid matter, fluids, or gases from a body part:

(

incision and drainage Incision and drainage (I&D), also known as clinical lancing, are minor surgical procedures to release pus or pressure built up under the skin, such as from an abscess, boil, or infected paranasal sinus. It is performed by treating the area with a ...

), extirpation (

thrombectomy Mechanical thrombectomy, or simply thrombectomy, is the interventional procedure of removing a blood clot (thrombus) from a blood vessel. It is commonly performed in the cerebral arteries (interventional neuroradiology). The effectiveness of throm ...

), fragmentation (

lithotripsy Lithotripsy is a non-invasive procedure involving the physical destruction of hardened masses like kidney stones, bezoars or gallstones. The term is derived from the Greek words meaning "breaking (or pulverizing) stones" ( litho- + τρίψω r ...

gallstones A gallstone is a stone formed within the gallbladder from precipitated bile components. The term cholelithiasis may refer to the presence of gallstones or to any disease caused by gallstones, and choledocholithiasis refers to the presence of mi ...

) * only involve examination of body parts and regions: inspection ( diagnostic arthroscopy), map ( cardiac mapping) * involve putting in or on, putting back, or moving living body part: bypass ( gastrojejunal bypass), dilation ( coronary artery dilation), occlusion ( fallopian tube ligation), restriction ( cervical cerclage) * always involve devices: insertion ( pacemaker insertion), replacement (

total hip replacement Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant, that is, a hip prosthesis. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi (half) replacement. Such joint replacement ...

), supplement ( herniorrhaphy using mesh), removal ( cardiac pacemaker removal), change (

drainage tube change Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic condition ...

), revision ( hip prosthesis adjustment) * involve cutting and separation only: division (

osteotomy An osteotomy is a surgical operation whereby a bone is cut to shorten or lengthen it or to change its alignment. It is sometimes performed to correct a hallux valgus, or to straighten a bone that has healed crookedly following a fracture. It is ...

), release ( peritoneal adhesiolysis) * involving other repair: control (

control of postprostatectomy bleeding Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controlli ...

), repair ( suture of laceration) * with other objectives: alteration (

face lift A facelift, technically known as a rhytidectomy (from the Ancient Greek () "wrinkle", and () "excision", the surgical removal of wrinkles), is a type of cosmetic surgery procedure used to give a more youthful facial appearance. There are mul ...

), creation ( artificial vagina creation), fusion (

spinal fusion Spinal fusion, also called spondylodesis or spondylosyndesis, is a neurosurgical or orthopedic surgical technique that joins two or more vertebrae. This procedure can be performed at any level in the spine (cervical, thoracic, or lumbar) and pre ...

)

Regions

References

{{Psychotherapy Clinical procedure classification