T20-T32 — Burns and corrosions
ICD-10-CM codes T20-T32 cover burns and corrosions, within injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes. The block holds 3,708 codes across 3 sub-blocks, of which 2,584 are billable and 1,124 are header codes that cannot be submitted on a claim. 3,575 of them (96%) 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.
Includes
Conditions this code covers.
- burns (thermal) from electrical heating appliances
- burns (thermal) from electricity
- burns (thermal) from flame
- burns (thermal) from friction
- burns (thermal) from hot air and hot gases
- burns (thermal) from hot objects
- burns (thermal) from lightning
- burns (thermal) from radiation
- chemical burn [corrosion] (external) (internal)
- scalds
The 7th character in T20-T32
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. 3,575 of the 3,708 codes here take one.
- A
- initial encounter
- D
- subsequent encounter
- S
- sequela
Risk adjustment in T20-T32
0 codes in this block map to a CMS-HCC, which means the diagnosis carries a risk-adjustment payment when it is documented and coded. Under-coding here is money left on the table; over-coding here is what audits are for.
- HCC 385 Severe Skin Burn or Condition
What else to watch in T20-T32
- 1,760 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.
- 2,578 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.