Spring 2019 Introduction

The Spring 2019 issue of Perspectives in Health Information Management features a study evaluating the use of ICD codes for health services research involving patients with a diagnosis of soft-tissue sarcoma. Authors of the study, “Challenge of Using ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM Codes in Soft Tissue Sarcoma Databases for Health Services Research,” found that a lack of consistency in ICD coding for the diagnosis and treatment of soft-tissue sarcoma was a limiting factor in the ability to conduct real-world observational research.