T15-T19 — Effects of foreign body entering through natural orifice
ICD-10-CM codes T15-T19 cover effects of foreign body entering through natural orifice, within injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes. The block holds 392 codes across 5 categories, of which 261 are billable and 131 are header codes that cannot be submitted on a claim. 392 of them (100%) require a 7th character.
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.
Use additional code
Add a secondary code to capture the detail described below.
- code, if known, for foreign body entering into or through a natural orifice (W44.-)
The 7th character in T15-T19
A code in this block is not complete without its 7th character, and a missing one is a rejected claim rather than a denied one: the clearinghouse never passes it on. 392 of the 392 codes here take one.
- A
- initial encounter
- D
- subsequent encounter
- S
- sequela
What else to watch in T15-T19
- 40 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.
- 222 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.