K21.9 — Gastro-esophageal reflux disease without esophagitis
K21.9 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for gastro-esophageal reflux disease without esophagitis. It is valid for submission on a claim.
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- Esophageal reflux NOS
Risk adjustment
K21.9 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
K21.9 is named in 23 Medicare coverage policies — 19 listing it as supporting medical necessity, and 4 listing it as NOT covered. Which of them applies to you depends on your Medicare contractor, and coverage genuinely differs by state.
- A59015Billing and Coding: MolDX: Molecular Testing for Detection of Upper Gastrointestinal Metaplasia, Dysplasia, and Neoplasianot covered
- A59032Billing and Coding: MolDX: Molecular Testing for Detection of Upper Gastrointestinal Metaplasia, Dysplasia, and Neoplasianot covered
- A59051Billing and Coding: MolDX: Molecular Testing for Detection of Upper Gastrointestinal Metaplasia, Dysplasia, and Neoplasianot covered
- A59121Billing and Coding: MolDX: Molecular Testing for Detection of Upper Gastrointestinal Metaplasia, Dysplasia, and Neoplasianot covered
How K21.9 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 K21.9.
- Cardiochalasia
- Chalasia(cardiac sphincter)
- GERD(gastroesophageal reflux disease)
- Reflux
- Disease, diseased›gastroesophageal reflux(GERD)
- Reflux›acid
- Reflux›esophageal
- Reflux›gastroesophageal
- Relaxation›cardioesophageal
- Allergy, allergic›milk protein›gastroesophageal reflux
Related codes at this level
Codes that share K21. If K21.9 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.
Questions about K21.9
- Is K21.9 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- Yes. K21.9 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
- Where does K21.9 sit in the tabular list?
- Diseases of the digestive system (K00-K95), in the block Diseases of esophagus, stomach and duodenum (K20-K31).