Implementation Status and Optimization Strategy of Primary Care Diagnostic Coding in China

With the continuous deepening of the reform of the primary care and health system, the standardization of primary health information has received more and more attention. As an important part of the construction of primary health information, primary care diagnostic coding plays an important role in improving the efficiency of primary care management, promoting the quality control of primary care, and effectively collecting primary care data. However, China has used the disease classification of general hospitals as the primary care diagnostic code for a long time, which not only leads to the chaotic state of non-standard and non-standardized primary care diagnosis, but also causes loss and error in the data collection, record and analysis in primary care. By summarizing the historical development of primary care diagnostic coding at home and abroad, this paper points out five main problems faced by China's primary care diagnostic coding: the lack of attention to primary care diagnostic coding, the lack of unified primary care diagnostic coding leads to the limited development of primary care function and quality in China, the disagreements about which international primary care classifications match the primary care diagnostic codes in China, the various challenges faced by the localization of primary care diagnostic coding, and the lack of talents and tools to evaluate and optimize primary care diagnostic coding in China. On this basis, combined with the development process of foreign primary care diagnostic coding, it is proposed that all parties in China should pay attention to the development of primary care diagnostic coding. While further promoting the construction of primary care information in line with international standards, the national unified primary care diagnostic coding standard should be formulated based on the current trial ICD-11 and ICPC-3 classification as soon as possible, and the sound training system for primary care diagnostic coding talents should be established to further implement and optimize primary care diagnostic coding in China.