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J45.51

J45.51: Severe persistent asthma with (acute) exacerbation

Billable / specific codeICD-10-CM

J45.51 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for severe persistent asthma with (acute) exacerbation. It is valid for submission on a claim.

Check J45.51 with the rest of the claim: free scrubber

Excludes1 inherited from the categories above J45.51

A category’s note binds every code beneath it.

Written on J45: Asthma

Excludes2 inherited from the categories above J45.51

Not part of this code, but both may be coded when both are present.

Written on J45: Asthma

  • asthma with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (J44.89)
  • chronic asthmatic (obstructive) bronchitis (J44.89)
  • chronic obstructive asthma (J44.89)
  • other specified chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (J44.89)

Other codes that can never be billed with J45.51

Their own Excludes1 notes name this code, so the conflict is not listed above.

Risk adjustment

J45.51 risk-adjusts. Under the CMS-HCC V28 model it maps to this category:

  • HCC 279 Severe Persistent Asthma0.818 RAF

Coefficient shown for the Community Non-dual Aged segment. A higher HCC in the same hierarchy will suppress this one, so capturing it does not always add score. Look up the whole chart to see which of its HCCs the hierarchy would zero.

Medicare coverage

J45.51 is named in 40 Medicare coverage policies: 38 listing it as supporting medical necessity, and 2 listing it as NOT covered. Which one applies depends on your Medicare contractor.

  • A56566Billing and Coding: Outpatient Physical and Occupational Therapy Servicesnot covered
  • A57067Billing and Coding: Outpatient Physical and Occupational Therapy Servicesnot covered
  • A52448Billing and Coding: Omalizumab and biosimilar, OMLYCLO® (omalizumab-igec)
  • A52466Nebulizers - Policy Article

Alphabetic index entries that lead here

  • Asthma, asthmatic›severe persistent›with›exacerbation(acute)
  • Asthma, asthmatic›persistent›severe›with›exacerbation(acute)

Code history

Unchanged in every release from FY2024 to FY2027.

Other codes under J45.5

ICD-10-CMFY2027· effective October 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.