The Alliance’s Aging in Motion (AIM) Coalition conducted a symposium today at the International Conference on Frailty and Sarcopenia Research (ICFSR) in Boston, Mass., on its proposal to establish an ICD-10 code for diagnosing sarcopenia patients. It was chaired by Alliance Vice President of Public Policy Cynthia Bens, who is also the executive director of AIM. This represented an opportunity for AIM to update the international sarcopenia research community on the progress of the code proposal.
AIM submitted its proposal to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee last year. Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of skeletal muscle that comes with aging.
“The establishment of this code is essential for the recognition, clinical diagnosis, and treatment of this condition. We are optimistic that having an ICD-10 code for sarcopenia will improve diagnosis of the condition by physicians and further recognition of sarcopenia among other healthcare professionals,” says Bens. “It is our hope that routine diagnosis of the condition will eliminate a major barrier to treatment, help us better understand the people impacted by the condition, and how we can better serve their complex health needs.”
