Medical Billing
ICD-11 Readiness: A Guide for Medical Billers
Nov 10, 2025
6 min read
ICD-10 was a massive leap. ICD-11 is a quantum jump. It brings digital-first coding, clustering, and granularity that better reflects modern medicine.
Why the Change?
ICD-10 is outdated scientifically. It struggles to capture the complexity of newer treatments, antimicrobial resistance, and modern safety data. ICD-11 maps directly to SNOMED CT and other digital health ontologies, making it native to Electronic Health Records.
Key Features
Extension Codes
Add detail (laterality, severity) without creating endless pre-coordinated codes.
Clustering
Link multiple codes to tell a story (e.g., "Sepsis" due to "Staph" following "Surgery").
Digital API
Built as a database first, not a book. Native API integration.
Preparing Your Practice
Don't Panic, Plan.
Review your top 20 diagnosis codes today. Map them to ICD-11 using the WHO browser tool.