For Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have a repeatable process for turning the annual ICD-10-CM/PCS update documents into a concise, CDI-focused team briefing in under an hour — instead of spending 3–4 hours reading through hundreds of pages of tabular changes to find the 20 that matter for your program.
What you'll need
Go to CMS.gov and search "ICD-10-CM FY [current year] updates." Download the Tabular Addenda and Guidelines Changes documents. These are free public documents — no PHI involved.
What you should see: A PDF or text file listing new codes, revised codes, deleted codes, and guideline changes.
Go to {{tool:Claude.url}} and start a new conversation. If you have the {{tool:Claude.plan}} subscription, use a Project to save this for future use.
Start by telling Claude what to focus on:
I'm a CDI specialist preparing a team briefing on ICD-10-CM FY[year] changes. My CDI program focuses on these high-priority diagnosis categories: [list your top 10-15: e.g., sepsis, respiratory failure, CHF, AKI, malnutrition, pressure injuries, stroke, pneumonia, COPD, diabetes with complications].
Please analyze the ICD-10 changes I'm about to paste and:
1. Identify all changes relevant to these categories
2. Flag any changes affecting CC/MCC designation
3. Note new documentation specificity requirements that will require query template updates
4. Identify any deleted codes where we need to update our query language
5. Format the output as a team briefing with an executive summary and then section-by-section detail
Copy and paste the ICD-10-CM tabular addenda text into the conversation. For large documents, start with the sections most relevant to your program (e.g., Chapter 1: Infectious Diseases for sepsis changes; Chapter 9: Circulatory for CHF/cardiac).
If the document is too large, paste one chapter at a time and ask Claude to accumulate findings across multiple messages.
After pasting the changes, ask:
Based on these changes, create a CDI team briefing document with:
- Executive summary (3-4 sentences: what's changing and why it matters)
- High-priority changes by clinical category (sepsis, cardiac, respiratory, etc.)
- Query template updates needed for each change
- Changes effective date
- Recommended physician education topics based on these changes
Review the briefing for accuracy. Check that:
Format the output in Word and add your facility's CDI program header. Distribute to your team before the October 1 effective date.
What you should see: A 2–4 page briefing document organized by clinical category with specific, actionable update items. Troubleshooting: If Claude misses changes in a category, ask specifically: "Did any changes affect [specific diagnosis] coding? Check again."
Full update briefing:
Analyze these ICD-10-CM FY[year] changes and create a CDI team briefing focused on: [your top diagnoses]. Identify CC/MCC changes and query template updates needed.
Specialty-specific update:
What ICD-10-CM FY[year] changes affect [cardiology/oncology/neurology] coding? Summarize implications for CDI queries and documentation requirements.
Physician education topics:
Based on these ICD-10 changes, what are the top 3 physician education topics I should address in my next CDI in-service? What documentation changes will physicians need to make?