28/06/2026
Big news for the Lipedema community!
New ICD-10-CM codes for Lipedema have been accepted and, barring something out of the ordinary, are on track to take effect in October 2027.
The original application went to the CDC in 2020, and getting here took years of follow-up and persistence, especially by Dr. Karen Herbst, who presented cycle after cycle since then.
This is a breakthrough. Getting Lipedema-specific ICD codes in place in the US, as they have been in other countries for some time, has been one of our field's biggest goals for years. It was a top recommendation in the Lipedema Foundation's 2023 Research Roadmap (lipedema.org/roadmap), and the effort far precedes that.
These codes are vital for easing patient access to diagnosis and care, facilitating reimbursement, and enabling health records research at scale.
Congratulations and thank you to Dr. Herbst; to Dr. Thomas Wright MD FAVLS and the American Vein & Lymphatic Society for their early work; and to all the submitters, collaborators, and endorsers who made this happen.
