An ICD for the Digital World: What Does the ICD-11 Research Show?

The 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is now available for use. A literature search was conducted to review and summarize the research conducted to date. In addition to the ease of integration into electronic health records using standard digital tools such as uniform resource identifiers and application programming interfaces, ICD-11 and the World Health Organization provided linearization for mortality and morbidity, ICD-11-MMS, promise improved backward compatibility to ICD-10; increased availability in multiple languages; greater detail for clinical use, including traditional Chinese medicine; and enhanced maintenance for continued relevance. The studies reviewed here support the superior content and utility of ICD-11-MMS. Meaningful planning for implementation has begun, including the provision of a framework. It is time for the world to adopt a digitally prepared ICD.