M48.0 — Spinal stenosis
M48.0 is a non-billable header ICD-10-CM code for spinal stenosis. It cannot be billed on its own: choose one of the more specific child codes below.
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- Caudal stenosis
Other codes that can never be billed with M48.0
These codes carry an Excludes1 note pointing at M48.0. The conflict binds both ways, but ICD-10-CM only writes it down on one side — so you would not find this by reading M48.0 alone.
- G55Nerve root and plexus compressions in diseases classified elsewhere
Risk adjustment
M48.0 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.
Code history
M48.0 has not changed since FY2024 — no addition, revision or deletion across the three most recent ICD-10-CM releases.
Code to one of these instead M48.0
9 child codes. Green means billable.
- M48.00Spinal stenosis, site unspecified
- M48.01Spinal stenosis, occipito-atlanto-axial region
- M48.02Spinal stenosis, cervical region
- M48.03Spinal stenosis, cervicothoracic region
- M48.04Spinal stenosis, thoracic region
- M48.05Spinal stenosis, thoracolumbar region
- M48.06Spinal stenosis, lumbar region
- M48.07Spinal stenosis, lumbosacral region
- M48.08Spinal stenosis, sacral and sacrococcygeal region
Related codes at this level
Codes that share M48. If M48.0 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.
Questions about M48.0
- Is M48.0 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- No. M48.0 is a non-billable header code. Code to a higher level of specificity using one of its child codes.
- Where does M48.0 sit in the tabular list?
- Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (M00-M99), in the block Spondylopathies (M45-M49).