So it seems like currently we're okay, but that if the 'evidence review' supports Dua's proposal, that could really screw everything up.
Indeed.
On March 17, 2017, Dr Robert Jakob,
Team Leader, Classifications Terminologies and Standards, WHO, had written to me (and he had copied in seven other key WHO and ICD Revision personnel, including Dr Tarun Dua and the then
ICD Revision Project Lead, Dr Ties Boerma):
"...As discussed earlier, chronic fatigue syndrome will not be lumped into the chapter ‘signs and symptoms’. We certainly will share the rationale for any decision."
Which could suggest a lack of consensus between Dr Jakob and Dr Dua/TAG Neurology.
WHO's Dr John Grove (current
Project Lead) has stated (between Feb-March 2018):
that evidence is required for decisions towards allocating the relevant category in a better place in ICD-11 than the current one;
that a systematic review will determine if the category needs to be moved to any other specific chapter of ICD-11;
that the relevant category will in any case be kept separate from the generic ‘chronic fatigue’ (signs and symptoms);
that the outcomes will be posted together with the relevant detail on the proposal platform;
that new proposals posted on the platform will become part of the workflows of the maintenance mechanism of ICD-11 and be processed in an annual cycle; that results will be communicated, as soon as the involved committees have agreed on the recommendation on how to go about a specific proposal;
that the current updating cycle foresees a 3 yearly update to the classification structure, for the first update of ICD-11. Later updates to the classification structure may occur only at 5 yearly rates.
Edited to add: Also bear in mind the WHO/ICD-11 precedents for not relocating legacy terms to other chapters, as set out in early posts.
A few days before the "advance preview" was released, I counted over a 1000 proposals still to be processed. This backlog carries forward to become part of the update and maintenance tasks. With the working groups (TAGs) already sunsetted (October 2016) and the
Joint Task Force due to step down this October, the review of existing proposals and new proposals becomes the responsibility of these committees:
Classifications and Statistics Advisory Commitee (CSAC)
- Includes experts from countries and from the groups listed below
Medical Scientific Advisory Committee (MSAC)
- Ensures scientific accuracy and clinical relevance of ICD
- Keeps links with the scientific community
Mortality Reference Group
- Advises on all aspects in relation to use of ICD in cause of death coding and rules
Morbidity Reference Group
- Advises on all aspects in relation to use of ICD in morbidity coding and rule
So the joint proposal which I submitted with Mary Dimmock (in March 2017), the proposal submitted by Lily Chu on behalf of the IACFS/ME (in March 2017), the Dr Tarun Dua proposal (submitted November 2017), and any potential new proposals resulting out of the apparent "evidence review" or which might be submitted by any other party in the future, become the responsibility of the
CSAC and
MSAC.
The ICD-11
Reference Guide sets out the current projected update and maintenance schedule for ICD-11 and identifies what type of change would come under the heading of a "Minor change" and which would be considered a "Major change."
As far as I can determine, approval of a change of chapter or a change of parent class would likely come under "Major change." Which may mean that a change could not be implemented as part of the annual update schedule but would be rolled forward for batch incorporation in a 3 or 5 yearly update.
What isn't clear, yet, is in
what years the first of the annual updates and the first of the 3 or 5 yearly updates would kick in.
The current Timeline is:
June 18, 2018: Release of an "advance preview" version of ICD-11 to allow Member States to prepare for implementation.
(Blue MMS Release 2018 remains stable.)
January 2019: ICD-11 submitted to the Executive Board Meeting.
May 2019: ICD-11 submitted to World Health Assembly for endorsement.
(Period during which still to be completed support materials and not yet published companion and derivative publications can be worked on.)
January 2022: WHA's endorsement comes into effect and Member States can start reporting using ICD-11
(if they have adopted and implemented the new edition by then. But few Members States are anticipated to be prepared at that point for migration to the new edition).
Some "Minor changes" are anticipated to be dealt with
in between the annual update and maintenance process and if approved, entered into the orange Maintenance Platform until they can be incorporated into the next release of the blue MMS version. So the orange platform is a "work in progress" and won't have the stability of the blue MMS Release.
If at some point between now and 2022, the WHO were to submit new proposals on the Proposal Mechanism for the terms of interest to us, and those proposals
were approved by the MSAC/CSAC, and if they constituted a "Major change", they might not be able to implement the change in the blue MMS Release until the first of the 3 or 5 yearly updates.
So we could be waiting a long time for stability.
Although I am retiring in August, I shall continue monitoring the Proposal Mechanism as I have agreed with Mary Dimmock that if we do need to respond to any new proposals, or to respond in relation to our joint proposal, that I will make myself available for this.