Leaving the Walkman and ICD-9 Behind: Modernizing the Disease Classification System Used by Canadian Physicians

The International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) was released in the 1970s and adopted in Canada for physician billing claims in 1979 (CIHI n.d.b.; WHO & International Conference for the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases 1977). ICD-9 is no longer adequate for representing our modern healthcare environment and patient needs. We summarize the findings from a small survey of ICD-9 users across Canada – such as family physicians, researchers and decision makers – who describe the limitations of ICD-9 and the features that they would desire in a new or updated classification system.