Grant: Project Grant

Global surveillance and monitoring of disease requires the most current and comprehensive system to track and improve the health of individuals worldwide. The International Classification of Disease (ICD) is a system used worldwide to code disease diagnoses. Currently, Canada uses the 10th version of ICD to code health information. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently released the 11th version of ICD (ICD-11), which offers updated diagnoses codes that reflect changes in society and medicine (e.g. opioid overdose and gaming addictions codes), and user-friendly electronic coding tools. ICD-11 will include 55,000 codes compared to that of ICD-10-CA (14,400). However, urgent questions have arisen about the costs and benefits of transitioning to a new classification system from decision-makers and health information management across Canada. The proposed study aims to provide evidence to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, to support the ICD-11 transition in Canada. To do this, we will create a cost and benefit framework, an online calculator tool, and provide the corresponding projections, for the ICD-11 transition in Canada. Our team is ideally positioned to conduct this work. The University of Calgary is a WHO Collaborating Centre on Classification, Terminologies and Standards that has been instrumental in testing and improving ICD-11. Further, we have established lasting relationships with the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and the Canadian Health Information Management Association (CHIMA), both key stakeholders in overseeing Canadian coded health data and adoption of ICD-11. This project will provide critical information for countries worldwide to make a decision on ICD-11 adoption and will create an opportunity to elucidate the benefits and prepare for the challenges of transition (e.g. training and technology).