ICD-10 Conversion How-to
What you learn about ICD-10 codes will influence the keywords you search for in the problem list in the
ICD-10 version of Amazing Charts, so this short exercise can be a key step in your preparation for ICD10.*
Part One - How to generate a list of your most used Diagnoses Codes
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Open Reports in Amazing Charts
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Under Category choose billing and coding
Under Field choose Most Frequently used diagnosis codes
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Select “Add Criteria To Query”
Click “Run Report”
After the report generates, click “Export” at the bottom of the screen
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Name your file
o Example: “Most used Dx”
Save to your desktop
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Open the XLS file you just saved to your desktop.
Add a column in front of the ICD 9 CM codes.
Label the columns:
o A=Diagnosis
o B= ICD 9 code
o C= ICD 10 code
Select the top 50 Diagnoses. Highlight these.
Once you’ve generated a list of your most frequently used diagnosis codes, you can start entering them
into a conversion tool. You can also refer to lists of commonly used ICD-9 codes from other sources. For
example, you can click here for a list of common ICD-9 codes for Family Practices as identified by Road
to 10.
Part Two – Using a Conversion Tool
Apply the “Pareto Principle”- 80% of the work with coding will be with 20% of your diagnoses. Most of
your coding will be of familiar diagnoses, so it is advisable to convert your most frequently used codes
and ones that are tied to the largest share of revenue within your practice prior to the transition.
NOTE: There are many tools available to help with converting codes. Amazing Charts does not recommend one tool
over another, however, we do need to limit the number of tools we use. For this practice session, we will use
ICD10data.com which has a useful conversion search tool and states that it uses the 2016 ICD-10-CM CMS General
Equivalence Mappings as a source. If you wish to go straight to the source, refer to the ICD-10-CM Tabular List of
Diseases and Injuries.
Let’s get started:
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Visit www.icd9data.com/convert
Enter your ICD-9 code in the box (ex. 786.2)
Select Convert Code
o Ex: “ICD-9-CM 786.2” converts directly to “2015 ICD-10-CM R05 Cough”
Now return to your xml and place the data in the appropriate columns
o Cough under column A
o ICD-9 code under column B
o R05 under column C
NOTE: “ICD-9-CM 786.2” converts directly to “2015 ICD-10-CM R05 Cough,” but you decide if you want a
more descriptive code. You can look around the category and see if it BEST describes what you want or if
there is a more granular description you may want to choose.
Part Three – Capture your “Favorites”
Now is a good opportunity to design your “Favorite list” with codes descriptive of your most frequent
diagnoses. One commonly used code you may want to add to this list is “Diabetes 250.00.” When you
convert this ICD-9 code to ICD-10 you get a conversion of “2015 ICD-10-CM E11.9 Type 2 diabetes
mellitus without complications.” Add E11.9 to column C beside the ICD-9 code 250.00 in column B.
If you wish to be more descriptive, ICD-10 allows for that. ICD 10 allows, encourages, and some
instances requires you capture more specific, granular information. Refer to:
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Diabetes mellitus E08-E13
Hover over the any of the notepad icons for a snapshot
Double click the Category code to view relevant information and a breakdown of that category.
Below is an example of the information you would see for “Type 2 diabetes mellitus E11- >E11 Type 2
diabetes mellitus.”
Part Four – Familiarize yourself with the codes and categories
After you’ve converted your most frequently used codes, take the time to familiarize yourself with
the categories. To do this:
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Select 2015 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Codes
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Here you can click on any category and view how they have been formed. You can choose a
category and drill down.
o For example, hover over the chart icon for “Diseases Of The Respiratory System” and
you will see a breakdown of that category. To dig deeper, click on the number section,
“J00-J99 Diseases of the respiratory system.”
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Then again drill deeper and click on “J00-J06 Acute upper respiratory infections” and see:
Part Five – Aligning multiple ICD-10 codes with ICD-9
If you wish to be more descriptive, ICD-10 allows for that. ICD 10 allows, encourages, and some
instances requires you capture more specific, granular information, so if you have captured a diagnosis
in broad strokes but seek to expand on it, you may wish to align more than one ICD-10 code with your
previous ICD-9 codes.
For example, let’s look at Diabetes E08-E13 again:
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Look at the categories, choose the codes under that category that best represent your related
diagnoses. If you want to save multiple codes :
1. Return to your XML
2. Highlight the row below Diabetes 250.00
3. Click Insert and insert a row
4. Hit F4 until you have the total rows you desire.
5. Add the other ICD 10s codes that you want.
Questions? Call 866-382-5932, option 1, or email [email protected].