Pitfalls of interpreting diagnostic codes (ICD-9-CM)

In his podcast Diagnostic Codes & Misleading Clinical Assumptions, the director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine summarizes a recent JAMA article and editorial on the pitfalls of interpreting hospital data such as ICD-9-CM codes.

Good brief intro to diagnostic codes and implications for health care research.  Especially for those of us who don't deal with this kind data on a regular basis!
 
Read the transcript. Or check out the other NLM Director's Comment podcasts.