A06.6 — Amebic brain abscess
A06.6 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for amebic brain abscess. It is valid for submission on a claim.
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- Amebic abscess of brain (and liver) (and lung)
Excludes1 inherited from the categories above A06.6
These are not written on A06.6, but they bind it: a note on a category applies to every code beneath it. Billing A06.6 with anything listed here is a denial.
Excludes2 inherited from the categories above A06.6
Also inherited, and the opposite of Excludes1: these conditions are not part of A06.6, but a patient can have both, so you may code both.
Other codes that can never be billed with A06.6
These codes carry an Excludes1 note pointing at A06.6. The conflict binds both ways, but ICD-10-CM only writes it down on one side — so you would not find this by reading A06.6 alone.
- G07Intracranial and intraspinal abscess and granuloma in diseases classified elsewhere
Risk adjustment
A06.6 does not map to an HCC and does not risk-adjust under CMS-HCC V28. That is normal — most ICD-10 codes do not. It still needs to be coded correctly; it just will not move a RAF score.
Medicare coverage
A06.6 is named in 3 Medicare coverage policies — 3 listing it as supporting medical necessity. Which of them applies to you depends on your Medicare contractor, and coverage genuinely differs by state.
- A56421Billing and Coding: CT of the Abdomen and Pelvis
- A56612Billing and Coding: CT of the Head
- A57204Billing and Coding: MRI and CT Scans of the Head and Neck
How A06.6 is indexed
Coders do not find codes by browsing the tabular list — they look them up in the alphabetic index, under the word the physician wrote. These are the index entries that lead here, so you can see which chart wordings map to A06.6.
- Abscess›amebic›brain(and liver or lung abscess)
- Abscess›brain›amebic(with abscess of any other site)
- Abscess›liver›amebic›with›brain abscess(and liver or lung abscess)
- Abscess›lung›amebic›with›brain abscess
Code history
A06.6 has not changed since FY2024 — no addition, revision or deletion across the three most recent ICD-10-CM releases.
Related codes at this level
Codes that share A06. If A06.6 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.
Questions about A06.6
- Is A06.6 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- Yes. A06.6 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
- Where does A06.6 sit in the tabular list?
- Certain infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99), in the block Intestinal infectious diseases (A00-A09).
- What cannot be coded together with A06.6?
- A06.6 carries Excludes1 notes, which means the conditions they list can never be coded together with it on the same encounter. Some are written on the categories above A06.6 (A06) and apply to it just the same.