Fibromyalgia is finally being recognized as an official diagnosis! Please share this information
On October 1, 2015, Fibromyalgia finally has its own official ICD-10-CM code officially approved in the United States.
ICD-10-CM, short for International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification, is a list of diagnostic codes for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Center for Health Statistics. -CM is based on ICD-10, the Statistical Classification of Diseases published by the World Health Organization.
CIM codes are widely used in the health sector, including doctors, insurance companies and governments. They are used to identify diagnosed and classified diseases and disorders.
before October 1, in the diagnosis of a patient with fibromyalgia, doctors received the general code 729.1 – myalgia and myositis, unspecified. Any type of muscle pain or inflammation can be incorporated into the code. However, FM is recognized as a separate entity with its own code M79.7 – Fibromyalgia.
Why is it important?
There are many potential benefits of an ICD-10-CM code for fibromyalgia, but four in particular come to mind.
The fact that fibromyalgia has its own diagnosis code makes it nearly impossible for doctors to insist that it’s not real. The World Health Organization and the US government have given their official approval.
ICD-10-CM codes are used by insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid. To date, some insurance companies refuse to cover fibromyalgia treatments, insisting that it is not a real disease. They can’t say much.
Despite the disadvantage that they are not determined solely on the basis of a diagnosis that recognized fibromyalgia as a legitimate diagnosis is one of the causes, it is sometimes used as a basis for denial and can lead to disability a little easier.
Another diagnostic code will improve the consistency of fibromyalgia research. Ginevra Liptaň, MD pointed out in her recent article in the National Pain Report: “The new code will also allow for a more in-depth analysis of the treatment of fibromyalgia outcomes. Details of several of these observational studies are collected following the codes. diagnosis. Without its own diagnostic code, fibromyalgia studies have been hampered by gouache data, including those from patients with true fibro, but another disease that causes muscle pain. ”
The culmination of a long journey
The journey to fibromyalgia legitimacy has been long and difficult. After letting it slip away for many years, the US government began to realize that fibromyalgia was real. The FDA led the way in 2007, when the first drug was approved for the treatment of FM. Then, in 2012, the Social Security Administration issued a ruling recognizing fibromyalgia as a legitimate disability. Now, in 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Center for Health Statistics have an official diagnosis of the FM code.
This completes the trio of legitimacy and is a celebration worthy of the name of March!
Editor Karen Lee Richards ProHealth. A fibromyalgia sufferer, she founded the non-profit organization known as the National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA) and served as vice president for eight years. He has also been the editor-in-chief of Fibromyalgia, the first color and gloss magazine devoted to FM and other invisible illnesses. After leaving NFA, Karen served as a Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Guide. About.com New York Times Company and then as Network Guide Health Center Health Chronic Pain.
