Where?
A multidimensional atlas of medicine
One field.
Many coordinates.
Neurology is organized around a body system. Oncology follows a disease process. Radiology follows a method. Genomics follows biological scale. Modern medical science is a network—not one rigid tree.
What process?
Disease & mechanism
Cancer · infection · inflammationHow observed or treated?
Methods & technology
Imaging · surgery · therapeuticsAt what scale?
Biological scale & omics
Molecule · cell · tissue · organismFor whom and where?
Population & care setting
Pediatrics · emergency · public healthHow close to practice?
Translation & implementation
Discovery · trials · real-world care
Polyhierarchy
A field can have
several parents. Relationships matter more than one placement.
several parents. Relationships matter more than one placement.
Keep the layers distinct
Four different objects.
Four different questions.
A medical specialty, a diagnosis code, a service code, and a payment rule may all describe the same episode of care—but they are not interchangeable.
Organizes people, knowledge, research, and clinical practice.
Classifies documented diseases of the nervous system.
Reports what was performed, furnished, tested, or administered.
Applies coverage, billing edits, fee schedules, and contracts.
Interactive field atlas
Explore medical science
through different lenses.
Switch among the local polyhierarchy and established frameworks, then inspect how each field connects across anatomy, research traditions, methods, and care.
—
fields in the flat index
Selected lens
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Framework views are curated crosswalks into the LifeTech Index, not redistributed copies of the
source databases. Follow each source for authoritative codes, definitions, licensing terms, and current releases.
Field map
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Clinical coding & payment
A claim moves through
several vocabularies.
“Medicaid charge code” is not one universal taxonomy. A claim combines documented diagnoses, services, claim context, and Maryland-specific payment policy. A hospital may also maintain its own local charge codes.
Hospital charge ≠ Medicaid payment
A chargemaster entry is a provider’s local accounting object. Standard claim codes and payer rules determine how that line is interpreted and adjudicated.
Code-system guide
Know which layer answers which question.
ICD-10-CM diagnosis architecture
Twenty-two chapters.
Not twenty-two specialties.
ICD-10-CM groups documented diagnoses and reasons for care. Selecting a chapter below searches the medical field atlas for a related scientific domain; it is an orientation aid, not an automatic code crosswalk.
Chapter and code range
Diagnosis family
Related field search
Use in practice
Code to the record.
Pay by the current rule.
Use the code release, provider manual, fee schedule, authorization rule, and managed-care guidance effective for the date of service. Code-system links here lead to their authoritative stewards; licensed code descriptions are intentionally not reproduced.
