Medical classification

A medical classification is used to transform descriptions of medical diagnoses or procedures into standardized statistical code in a process known as clinical coding. Diagnosis classifications list diagnosis codes, which are used to track diseases and other health conditions, inclusive of chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and heart disease, and infectious diseases such as norovirus, the flu, and athlete's foot. Procedure classifications list procedure code, which are used to capture interventional data. These diagnosis and procedure codes are used by health care providers, government health programs, private health insurance companies, workers' compensation carriers, software developers, and others for a variety of applications in medicine, public health and medical informatics, including:

• statistical analysis of diseases and therapeutic actions
• reimbursement (e.g., to process claims in medical billing based on diagnosis-related groups)
• knowledge-based and decision support systems
• direct surveillance of epidemic or pandemic outbreaks
• In forensic science and judiciary settings

There are country specific standards and international classification systems.