DOHA: The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has asked all healthcare providers to implement the unified coding system — ICD-10-AM (7th Edition) — in the lead up to expanding the national health insurance scheme to more segments of the population.
SCH is preparing to launch the second phase of the mandatory insurance scheme by this April, which is expected to involve more hospitals and clinics.
Three public hospitals and as many private ones are participating in the first phase of the scheme launched last September.
In a circular to all licensed healthcare providers recently, SCH said the unified coding system has been made mandatory for all providers, as well as the Qatar Outpatient Classification Scheme (QOCS) and Patient Minimum Data Set (MDS).
All clinics and hospitals participating in the scheme will be required to adopt the unified code and the MDS while providing data about each patient, diagnosis and treatment to National Health Insurance Company (NHIC), the main insurance provider.
Implementation of the unified code will help standardise and unify the cost of medical treatment in the country.
“Use and implementation of ICD-1O-AM 7th edition has been mandated by the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of SCH for diagnosis coding in Qatar since 2011.
“As such, health service providers are obliged to implement this coding system when coding all inpatient and outpatient services provided in their facilities,” said the circular.
The notification didn’t give any timeframe for implementing the new coding system.
The hospitals enrolled in the insurance scheme have been following this system as a precondition for payment.
“Patient Minimum Data Set (MDS) is the ruling document for submission of data to NHIC and SCH and prevails over any other documents with respect to data requirements,” said the circular.
The MDS defines the minimum data provided for every patient encounter for funding the service (s) in different healthcare settings, it added.
The Qatari Outpatient Classification System (QOCS) is the ruling system to define the funding methodology for services provided for all outpatients as classified in six clinic types/categories.
Diagnosis coding according to ICD-1O-AM is mandatory.
“We look forward to implementation of coding standards in Qatar for improved transparency and planning of services,” said SCH.
The Peninsula
