Perspectives on benefits and risks of creation of an "injection drug use" billing code.

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.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Sandra A Springer reports a relationship with Indivior PLC that includes: non-financial support. Sandra A Springer reports a relationship with Alkermes Inc. that includes: consulting or advisory and non-financial support. Ellen F Eaton reports a relationship with Prime Healthcare Services Inc. that includes: consulting or advisory. Ellen F Eaton reports a relationship with IAS-USA that includes: consulting or advisory. Ellen F Eaton reports a relationship with Integritas Communications LLC that includes: consulting or advisory. Ellen F Eaton reports a relationship with Gilead Sciences that includes: consulting or advisory. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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