Is J21.8 a billable ICD-10-CM code?

Yes. J21.8 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.

Where does J21.8 sit in the tabular list?

Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99), in the block Other acute lower respiratory infections (J20-J22).

J21.8

J21.8 — Acute bronchiolitis due to other specified organisms

Billable / specific codeICD-10-CM

J21.8 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for acute bronchiolitis due to other specified organisms. It is valid for submission on a claim.

Excludes2 inherited from the categories above J21.8

Also inherited, and the opposite of Excludes1: these conditions are not part of J21.8, but a patient can have both, so you may code both.

Written on J21 — Acute bronchiolitis

respiratory bronchiolitis interstitial lung disease (J84.115)

Other codes that can never be billed with J21.8

These codes carry an Excludes1 note pointing at J21.8. The conflict binds both ways, but ICD-10-CM only writes it down on one side — so you would not find this by reading J21.8 alone.

J98.01Acute bronchospasm

Risk adjustment

J21.8 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

J21.8 is named in 5 Medicare coverage policies — 5 listing it as supporting medical necessity. Which of them applies to you depends on your Medicare contractor, and coverage genuinely differs by state.

A54111Billing and Coding: Speech Language Pathology (SLP) Services: Communication Disorders
A56717Billing and Coding: Respiratory Therapy (Respiratory Care)
A56730Billing and Coding: Respiratory Therapy and Oximetry Services
A57205Billing and Coding: Oximetry Services

How J21.8 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 J21.8.

Bronchiolitis›due to›specified organism NEC

Code history

J21.8 has not changed since FY2024 — no addition, revision or deletion across the three most recent ICD-10-CM releases.

Related codes at this level

Codes that share J21. If J21.8 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.

Questions about J21.8

Is J21.8 a billable ICD-10-CM code?: Yes. J21.8 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
Where does J21.8 sit in the tabular list?: Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99), in the block Other acute lower respiratory infections (J20-J22).