Q38.1 — Ankyloglossia
Q38.1 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for ankyloglossia. It is valid for submission on a claim.
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- Tongue tie
Risk adjustment
Q38.1 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
Q38.1 is named in 3 Medicare coverage policies — 3 listing it as supporting medical necessity. Which of them applies to you depends on your Medicare contractor, and coverage genuinely differs by state.
- A53052Billing and Coding: Home Health Speech-Language Pathology
- A54111Billing and Coding: Speech Language Pathology (SLP) Services: Communication Disorders
- A56868Billing and Coding: Outpatient Speech Language Pathology
How Q38.1 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 Q38.1.
- Ankyloglossia
- Frenum, frenulum›tongue(shortening) (congenital)
- Short, shortening, shortness›frenum, frenulum, linguae(congenital)
- Syndrome›ankyloglossia superior
- Tongue›tie
- Malformation›tongue›tie
Related codes at this level
Codes that share Q38. If Q38.1 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.
- Q38.0Congenital malformations of lips, not elsewhere classified
- Q38.2Macroglossia
- Q38.3Other congenital malformations of tongue
- Q38.4Congenital malformations of salivary glands and ducts
- Q38.5Congenital malformations of palate, not elsewhere classified
- Q38.6Other congenital malformations of mouth
- Q38.7Congenital pharyngeal pouch
- Q38.8Other congenital malformations of pharynx
Questions about Q38.1
- Is Q38.1 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- Yes. Q38.1 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
- Where does Q38.1 sit in the tabular list?
- Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00-QA0), in the block Other congenital malformations of the digestive system (Q38-Q45).