Design, development and first validation of a transcoding system from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10 in the IT.DRG Italian project.

In Italy, ICD-9-CM is currently used for coding health conditions at hospital discharge, but ICD-10 is being introduced thanks to the IT-DRG Project. In this project, one needed component is a set of transcoding rules and associated tools for easing coders work in the transition. The present paper illustrates design and development of those transcoding rules, and their preliminary testing on a subset of Italian hospital discharge data.