Finding the right code

Hook

Nobody memorizes 17,000 categories. You search, you select, and you verify. Let's see how.

The tools

WHO provides a browser and coding tool at icd dot who dot int, free to use. It lets you find concepts by searching for terms, anatomy, or other elements. WHO also provides the Smart coding tool, a simple automated way to find and select the categories you need. And everything is available as web services, for software. WHO says the print version is possible but not recommended.

The three steps

Coding has three steps. One: enter the statement or term in the coding tool. Two: select the match, or the one closest to what you're looking for. Three: verify the result in the tabular list, for exclusions, inclusions and notes, at the level of the category, its grouping, and the chapter. The match is the easy part. The verification is what keeps you compliant.

Live in the browser

Here it is in WHO's browser, release 2026-01. I type "type 2 diabetes mellitus". The first result is 5A11, Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Notice that some results come back as a ready-made cluster: this one shows 9B71.00&XS25, for diabetic retinopathy. When a search finds a cluster, the tool can hand you the assembled cluster.

How specific

Always code to the most specific level the documentation supports. Choose unspecified only when the information simply isn't there. Choose other when the documentation is specific but the classification has no category for it. And if the documentation is vague, the right move is often a query, not a guess.

Recap

Search, select, verify. Use WHO's free tools. Code to the most specific level documented. And never skip the verify step.