The WHO updates, adds and deletes codes and releases these codes every year on October 1.
For 2025, out of the 487 new codes, 38 revisions and 28 deleted there is nothing affecting acupuncturists, (or chiropractors for that matter.)
Key changes include identifying Diabetes in Remission, various forms of multiple sclerosis as well as specificity in cancer codes and ulcers.
To be clear – there is NO NEED to take a class.
What about ICD-11?
While we are on the subject, I should mention a word or two about ICD-11, which was adopted by the World Health Organization on Jan 1, 2022. As of mid-2025 there are 132 countries that have started implementation (these countries aren’t using the codes, they have just started the long process of implementation). There are just 14 countries that have started collecting or reporting using these new codes. For the record there are 194 nations that make up the WHO. The US has NOT started implementation and there is NO word of a start date. I have heard that there have been seminars where presenters encourage providers to include the new ICD-11 codes on claims – NO you can’t. I don’t hear that anymore, but there is still talk encouraging providers to include in these codes in their patient records/documentation. The rationale is the more carriers “see use” of the codes the faster they will become implemented.
I disagree. NO one will ever look at your notes for ICD-11 codes, and right now if you put them in your documentation, it will just add confusion. Any reviewer of documentation has NO say in the adoption of the codes and it is just a waste of time. There is absolutely no value to being prepared at this time as the US proposals for implementation of ICD10 began in the late 90s and early 2000s, and they were implemented on October 1, 2015. As the song goes – Time is on your side!
Who is Responsible for Adoption of ICD-11?
The groups responsible for adoption are the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) along with the National Committee of Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS). Recent news would indicate HHS has other things on their radar.
So no game changers to see here, rather a double nothing burger.