Identification of work-related injury emergency department visits using International Classification of Diseases,...

Emergency department (ED) visit discharge data are a less explored population-based data source used to identify work-related injuries. When using discharge data, work-relatedness is often determined by the expected payer of workers' compensation (WC). In October 2015, healthcare discharge data coding systems transitioned to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM). ICD-10-CM's structure offers potential new work-related codes to enhance work-related injury surveillance. This study identified work-related ED visits using relevant ICD-10-CM work-related injury codes. Cases identified using this method were compared with those identified using the WC expected payer approach.

State ED visit discharge data (2016-2019) were analysed using the CDC's discharge data surveillance definition. Injuries were identified using a diagnosis code or an external cause-of-injury code in any field. Injuries were assessed by mechanism and expected payer. Literature searches and manual review of ICD-10-CM codes were conducted to identify possible work-related injury codes. Descriptive statistics were performed and assessed by expected payer.

WC was billed for 87 361 injury ED visits from 2016 to 2019. Falls were the most frequent injury mechanism. The 246 ICD-10-CM work-related codes identified 36% more work-related ED injury visits than using WC as the expected payer alone.

This study identified potential ICD-10-CM codes to expand occupational injury surveillance using discharge data beyond the traditional WC expected payer approach. Further studies are needed to validate the work-related injury codes and support the development of a work-related injury surveillance case definition.