International Classification of Health Problems in Primary Care

The content of medical care given in the ambulatory setting is for the most part unknown.¹The need for these kinds of data by health care providers, health planners, government agencies, and epidemiologists is apparent. The ability to compile data about health problems of ambulatory patients has been impeded by the lack of a suitable classification. Attempts to use the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) to classify health problems encountered by general practitioners have often been unsuccessful.²Physicians in England, Canada, Australia, Germany, and other countries have developed ambulatory classifications, but these several classifications have often neither been compatible with each other nor with the ICD. It is, therefore, of considerable interest to primary care physicians that a new international classification of health problems, specifically designed for their use, has been developed. The International Classification of Health Problems in Primary Care (ICHPPC) was approved by the World Organization