M15-M19 — Osteoarthritis
ICD-10-CM codes M15-M19 cover osteoarthritis, within diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue. The block holds 130 codes across 5 categories, of which 98 are billable and 32 are header codes that cannot be submitted on a claim.
Excludes2 — not included here, but may coexist
The excluded condition is not part of this code, but a patient can have both. You may code both.
- osteoarthritis of spine (M47.-)
What else to watch in M15-M19
- 46 codes are laterality-specific. They come in left and right pairs, and the pair is mutually exclusive on a single site: coding both without a bilateral code is a contradiction a scrubber should catch before the payer does.
- 98 codes are named in Medicare coverage policies. An LCD or NCD lists them as supporting medical necessity, or explicitly as not supporting it. Which applies depends on the MAC for your state.