upcode

Noun

upcode (plural upcodes)

1. The behavioral norms which influence how software (or "downcode") is produced.
   • Upcode includes the mental codes that shape human thought and behavior from within and the cultural codes that operate on us, often invisibly, from without: personal morality, religious rituals, social norms, legal rules, corporate policies, professional ethics, website terms of service. Downcode...2023, Scott J. Shapiro, Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks, pages 12-13

Verb

IPA/ʌpˈkəʊd/

upcode (third-person singular simple present upcodes, present participle upcoding, simple past and past participle upcoded)

1. (US) To change the diagnostic code of a patient's condition from the correct code to one for which a larger amount can be billed.
   • Several factors appear to have fueled the PBD epidemic: […]; and diagnostic upcoding in the U.S. health system that rations treatment according to DSM diagnoses [ 14 ].2014 March 28, Peter Parry, “Biologism in Psychiatry: A Young Man’s Experience of Being Diagnosed with “Pediatric Bipolar Disorder””, in Journal of Clinical Medicine, volume 3, →DOI
2. To give an improved code or rating to something.
   • Introduction of more wagons fitted with vacuum brakes and roller-bearing axleboxes has made it possible to up-code trains conveying steel and coal traffic.1962 June, “Talking of Trains: W.R. up-codes mineral and coal trains”, in Modern Railways, page 373