K44.0 — Diaphragmatic hernia with obstruction, without gangrene
K44.0 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for diaphragmatic hernia with obstruction, without gangrene. It is valid for submission on a claim.
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- Diaphragmatic hernia causing obstruction
- Incarcerated diaphragmatic hernia
- Irreducible diaphragmatic hernia
- Strangulated diaphragmatic hernia
Risk adjustment
K44.0 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
K44.0 is named in 6 Medicare coverage policies — 6 listing it as supporting medical necessity. Which of them applies to you depends on your Medicare contractor, and coverage genuinely differs by state.
- A56389Billing and Coding: Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and Visualization
- A56421Billing and Coding: CT of the Abdomen and Pelvis
- A56580Billing and Coding: Computerized Axial Tomography (CT), Thorax
- A57063Billing and Coding: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Esophagogastroduodenoscopy
How K44.0 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 K44.0.
- Hernia, hernial›diaphragm, diaphragmatic›with›obstruction
- Hernia, hernial›hiatal›with›obstruction
Related codes at this level
Codes that share K44. If K44.0 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.
Questions about K44.0
- Is K44.0 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- Yes. K44.0 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
- Where does K44.0 sit in the tabular list?
- Diseases of the digestive system (K00-K95), in the block Hernia (K40-K46).