A1: Although the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the ICF over two decades, researchers, clinicians and policymakers in the United States have only recently begun using it to help communicate health status. The ICF is being used in countries that have transitioned to the ICD-10-CM. The United States is preparing to transition to ICD-10-CM beginning in 2013.

Q2: Why is use of the ICF associated with transitioning to ICD-10-CM?

A2: The ICF and ICD-10-CM are part of a family of taxonomies (classification systems) developed by the WHO. They were meant to complement each other. The ICF picks up where the ICD-10-CM leaves off and helps describe the health status of both populations and individuals.

Q3: We already use instruments to capture elements of functional status, why do we need the ICF?

A3: The ICF is not an instrument, it is a comprehensive framework from which instruments may be developed. As a comprehensive framework the ICF contains many domains and categories that while important in describing the health status of an individual or a population, may not be part of the instruments you’re now using. You may be missing important aspects of functional status, simply because the instrument you’re using does not address them.

Q4: There are so many categories in the ICF where do I start?

A4: Pick your most challenging patient population. Select the ICF categories that your organization feels are most important to describing this population’s functional status.  This set of ICF categories will then become the starting point for a condition-specific ICF “core set” of categories for your organization. The identified core set will form the foundation of your health record for this challenging patient-population.

Q5: I don’t have time to read through the ICF and select the core sets, but I am interested in learning more about how the ICF can help my organization. How can the Describing Function team help me?

A5: The Describing Function Team will work with you to develop a customized roadmap for incorporating the ICF into your organizational processes. Each organization we work with has a different set of unmet needs and varied resources to address them. We work closely with product development teams, quality assessment and performance improvement teams and executive leaders to help identify the unmet needs and apply ICF-based solutions.