Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States of America.
Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States of America.
J Subst Use Addict Treat. 2024 Sep;164:209392. doi: 10.1016/j.josat.2024.209392. Epub 2024 May 10.
People with substance use disorder (SUD) face barriers to prevention and treatment services, increasing risk for hospitalization and death. Injection drug use (IDU) can lead to an increased risk of overdose and infections. However, identifying people who inject drugs (PWID) within healthcare systems is challenging. International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) codes are used for billing and tracking healthcare utilization. In this commentary, experts in the field weigh the benefits and risks of creating an IDU-specific ICD-10 code. Potential benefits include earlier identification, better access to health services, and improved systems of resource allocation. Potential risks include further stigmatization of PWID and, if not tied to financial reimbursement, low rates of code utilization. As the current systems of identifying PWID are lacking, we feel that a guided operationalization of an ICD code to identify PWID could improve quantitative and epidemiological research accuracy and, therefore, support the health and well-being of PWID.
患有物质使用障碍（SUD）的人在预防和治疗服务方面面临障碍，增加了住院和死亡的风险。注射吸毒（IDU）会增加过量和感染的风险。然而，在医疗保健系统中识别注射毒品者（PWID）具有挑战性。国际疾病分类（ICD-10）代码用于计费和跟踪医疗保健的使用情况。在这篇评论中，该领域的专家权衡了创建特定于 IDU 的 ICD-10 代码的利弊。潜在的好处包括更早的识别、更好地获得卫生服务以及改进资源分配系统。潜在的风险包括对 PWID 的进一步污名化，以及如果不与财务报销挂钩，则代码使用率低。由于当前识别 PWID 的系统存在缺陷，我们认为对 ICD 代码进行操作化以识别 PWID，可以提高定量和流行病学研究的准确性，从而支持 PWID 的健康和福祉。
