[1] Work on ICD-10 began in 1983,[2] became endorsed by the Forty-third World Health Assembly in 1990, and came into effect in member states on January 1, 1993.

[4][3] While WHO manages and publishes the base version of the ICD, several member states have modified it to better suit their needs.

Through the use of optional sub-classifications, ICD-10 allows for specificity regarding the cause, manifestation, location, severity, and type of injury or disease.

[9] The online training includes a support forum, a self-learning tool[9] and user guide.

[11] Approximately 27[12][13] countries use ICD-10 for reimbursement and resource allocation in their health system, and some have made modifications to ICD to better accommodate its utility.

[1] The national versions may differ from the base classification in the level of detail, incomplete adoption of a category,[14] or the addition of procedure codes.

Introduced in 1998, ICD-10 Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) was developed by the National Centre for Classification in Health at the University of Sydney.

The Greek DRG (Gr-DRG) system is based on the Greek modification of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, based on the 2013 German Amendment of ICD-10 (ICD-10-GM), and a systematic catalog of codes of medical procedures called Greek Medical Procedure Classification (GMPC), based on corresponding international procedural classification.

The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) of Switzerland publishes the ICD-10-GM in French and Italian every two years.

[50] CMS decided the financial and public health cost associated with continuing to use the ICD-9-CM was too high and mandated the switch to ICD-10-CM.

[54][55] All HIPAA "covered entities" were required to make the change; a pre-requisite to ICD-10-CM is the adoption of EDI Version 5010 by January 1, 2012.

[57] Two common complaints in the United States about the ICD-10-CM are 1) the long list of potentially relevant codes for a given condition (such as rheumatoid arthritis) which can be confusing and reduce efficiency and 2) the assigned codes for seldom seen conditions (e.g. W55.22XA: Struck by cow, initial encounter; and V91.07XA: Burn due to water-skis on fire, initial encounter).

[58][59] The expansion of healthcare delivery systems and changes in global health trends prompted a need for codes with improved clinical accuracy and specificity.

[49] Early concerns in the implementation of ICD-10 included the cost and the availability of resources for training healthcare workers and professional coders.