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J18.0

J18.0Bronchopneumonia, unspecified organism

Billable / specific codeICD-10-CM

J18.0 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for bronchopneumonia, unspecified organism. 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.

  • hypostatic bronchopneumonia (J18.2)
  • lipid pneumonia (J69.1)

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.

  • acute bronchiolitis (J21.-)
  • chronic bronchiolitis (J44.89)
  • other specified chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (J44.89)

Risk adjustment

J18.0 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

J18.0 is named in 17 Medicare coverage policies 17 listing it as supporting medical necessity. Which of them applies to you depends on your Medicare contractor, and coverage genuinely differs by state.

  • A52466Nebulizers - Policy Article
  • A52466Nebulizers - Policy Article
  • A52466Nebulizers - Policy Article
  • A52466Nebulizers - Policy Article

How J18.0 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 J18.0.

  • Bronchoalveolitis
  • Pneumoniabroncho-, bronchial(confluent) (croupous) (diffuse) (disseminated) (hemorrhagic) (involving lobes) (lobar) (terminal)

Related codes at this level

Codes that share J18. If J18.0 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.

Questions about J18.0

Is J18.0 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
Yes. J18.0 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
Where does J18.0 sit in the tabular list?
Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99), in the block Influenza and pneumonia (J09-J18).
What cannot be coded together with J18.0?
J18.0 carries an Excludes1 note, which means the conditions it lists can never be coded together with it on the same encounter.
ICD-10-CMFY2026-Apr· effective April 1, 2026

Loaded directly from the CMS/NCHS ICD-10-CM public-domain release — see data sources and our editorial policy. If this page disagrees with the CMS tabular list, this page is wrong. Reference information for professional coders; not medical or billing advice.