The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and its Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) posted draft regulations regarding transitioning the California workers’ compensation system from the ICD-9 system of diagnosis to the ICD-10 system of diagnosis, effective October 1, 2015.

The Office of Administrative Law has published DIR and DWC’s notice of public hearing for these proposed regulations. The public hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m., Tuesday, July 7, 2015, in Room 1 of the Elihu Harris State Office Building, 1515 Clay Street in Oakland. Members of the public may also submit written comments on the regulations until 5 p.m. that day.

ICD-10 is the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), a medical classification list maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO). The deadline for U.S. providers to begin using Clinical Modification ICD-10-CM for diagnosis coding and Procedure Coding System ICD-10-PCS for inpatient hospital procedure coding is October 1, 2015. In preparation for this deadline, it is necessary for DIR and DWC to update regulations and forms to refer to ICD-10 instead of ICD-9.

Regulations that are being updated include 8 C.C.R. sections 9770, 9785, 9792.5.1, 14003, 14007 and DWC’s Medical Billing and Payment Guide. Forms affected include 5021 (Doctor’s First Report of Occupational Injury or Illness), PR-2 (Primary Treating Physician’s Progress Report), PR-3 and PR-4 (Primary Treating Physician’s Permanent and Stationary Reports).

The notice and text of the regulations can be found on the proposed regulations page.