Roles of ICD-10 Coders (Nurses)

Nurses of the Department of Health have been participating in ICD-10 coding for the Underlying Cause of Death since 2000.  The original role was to vet the code for the underlying cause of death on each death certificate.  With the introduction of the Automation Computer System for ICD-10 Mortality Coding for the Underlying Cause of Death from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States of America (USA), nurses started to make use of the program to generate the underlying cause of death in 2001.  The resulting computer file will then be sent to the Health Statistics Section of the Department for further action.  Nurses also assist in finding the natural injury codes for external causes of death of the coroner and non-coroner's cases.