New ICD-10 codes take effect; counselor convicted in $26M TRICARE scheme; Pennsylvania, CDC measles death counts diverge — Morning Medical Update

New ICD-10 codes take effect Oct. 1

Dilated cardiomyopathy code I42.0 is no longer billable on its own.

The fiscal year 2027 ICD-10-CM diagnosis code set applies to patient encounters from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Additions include codes for plantar fasciitis, personal history of Clostridioides difficile infection (Z86.17), hypoglycemia after bariatric and other surgeries (E89.830 and E89.838) and two adult body mass index codes at the low end of the scale (Z68.18 and Z68.19).

Some existing codes now need more characters. I42.0 splits into I42.00, I42.01 and I42.09, and claims still carrying the parent code after the switch can be denied. D69.1 likewise gives way to D69.11 for Glanzmann thrombasthenia and D69.19 for other qualitative platelet defects. As with every ICD-10 update, the changes apply to all HIPAA-covered entities, not only Medicare and Medicaid billers.

For the complete list of new, revised and deleted codes, see the 2027 addendum on the agency's ICD-10 page.

Counselor convicted in $26M TRICARE fraud scheme

Prosecutors said he billed under physicians' credentials without their consent.

A federal jury in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sept. 24 convicted Kevin D. Curry, 64, a licensed professional counselor from Frisco, Texas, on nine counts, including health care fraud and paying illegal health care kickbacks. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, his three clinics paid more than $5.5 million in kickbacks to get active-duty service members, veterans and their families to consent to transcranial magnetic stimulation they did not qualify for and, in many instances, did not receive.

Prosecutors said Curry falsely held himself out as a medical doctor, billed TRICARE using physicians' credentials without their knowledge or consent and had employees fabricate medical records. TRICARE paid about $17 million on more than $26 million in claims. Curry was charged in June as part of a nationwide health care fraud crackdown, The Dallas Morning News reported. He faces up to 10 years in prison on each count at sentencing.

Pennsylvania, CDC measles death counts diverge

The state reported its fifth measles-associated death; the national dashboard lists two.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health said Sept. 30 that an unvaccinated Lancaster County resident who tested positive for measles has died, the fifth Pennsylvanian this year to meet the department's measles-associated death definition. The state has confirmed 943 cases and 176 hospitalizations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists two U.S. measles deaths for 2026 among 3,659 confirmed cases as of Sept. 24, a death count it says is subject to change.

The tallies rest on different standards. CDC bases its national death count on National Center for Health Statistics mortality data and added its latest death only after that agency verified measles as the underlying cause, Reuters reported. Pennsylvania officials said more than 53,000 measles, mumps and rubella vaccine doses were given statewide in September, more than double a typical month.