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ICD-10-AM/ACHI/ACS

Two major health classifications are used by all Victorian hospitals to assign clinical codes to admitted episodes of care in hospitals. These codes are submitted to the department and form part of the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset (VAED). These classifications are:

1. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM)

 This classification is a modification of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) classification, The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10).  Australia is a designated collaborating centre for the WHO and under the terms of that arrangement can make modifications to ICD-10 to better meet Australian clinical practice. The ICD-10-AM is used to report diagnosis codes to the VAED.

2. The Australian Classification of Health Interventions (ACHI)

This classification was developed in Australia for use in Australian hospitals and was first used in Victoria in 1998.  It was originally based on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and maintains alignment with the MBS. The ACHI is used to report procedure codes to the VAED.

The use of the classifications is supported by the Australian Coding Standards (ACS). These classifications and the ACS, in use across Australia, are maintained by the National Casemix and Classification Centre (NCCC) . In limited circumstances, it has been necessary for Victoria to supplement the ACS with Victorian Additions to the ACS. A calendar of ICD coding editions and DRG grouping systems used in Victoria provides current and historical information for users of data spanning across different versions of the classification.

Related information

ICD-10-AM/ACHI Library File 2011-2012 - Added 21 July 2011

Calendar of ICD Coding and DRG Grouping Systems used in Victoria (PDF File 41KB) - Added 7 July 2011

VICC Queries Database

Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (AR-DRGs)