E40 — Kwashiorkor
E40 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for kwashiorkor. It is valid for submission on a claim.
Excludes1 — never code together
These conditions cannot occur together. Billing both on the same encounter is a denial.
- marasmic kwashiorkor (E42)
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- Severe malnutrition with nutritional edema with dyspigmentation of skin and hair
Other codes that can never be billed with E40
These codes carry an Excludes1 note pointing at E40. The conflict binds both ways, but ICD-10-CM only writes it down on one side — so you would not find this by reading E40 alone.
Risk adjustment
E40 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
E40 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.
- A57189Billing and Coding: Serum Magnesium
- A57755Billing and Coding: Vitamin B<sub>12</sub> Injections
- A59186Billing and Coding: Magnesium
How E40 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 E40.
- Kwashiorkor
- Pluricarential syndrome of infancy
- Polycarential syndrome of infancy
- Malnutrition›malignant
- Syndrome›pluricarential of infancy
- Syndrome›plurideficiency
- Syndrome›polycarential of infancy
- Edema, edematous›nutritional›with dyspigmentation, skin and hair
- Malnutrition›severe›with›kwashiorkor
- Malnutrition›degree›severe›with›kwashiorkor
- Malnutrition›protein›calorie›severe›with›kwashiorkor
- Malnutrition›protein›energy›severe›with›kwashiorkor
Questions about E40
- Is E40 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- Yes. E40 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
- Where does E40 sit in the tabular list?
- Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E89), in the block Malnutrition (E40-E46).
- What cannot be coded together with E40?
- E40 carries an Excludes1 note, which means the conditions it lists can never be coded together with it on the same encounter.