Matching GP terms to the ICD-10-AM index

This article describes some preliminary work done by the National Centre for Classification in Health (NCCH) in response to the recommendations of the General Practice Coding Jury. Terms derived from two Australian general practices, two coordinated care trials and the General Practice Coding Jury were matched to the index of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) to gauge the content coverage provided by the existing index. Results showed the percentage of good general practice (GP) term/ICD-10-AM Index term matches was 58%. The percentage of acceptable concept matches was 88%. It is concluded that this work provides a useful methodology, and that the ICD-10-AM index may support a level of concept matches, while it will require augmentation to support term matching.