R40.222 — Coma scale, best verbal response, incomprehensible words
R40.222 is a non-billable header ICD-10-CM code for coma scale, best verbal response, incomprehensible words. It cannot be billed on its own: choose one of the more specific child codes below. This code also requires a 7th character before it is complete.
This code requires a 7th character
The following appropriate 7th character is to be added to subcategory R40.22-:
- 0
- unspecified time
- 1
- in the field [EMT or ambulance]
- 2
- at arrival to emergency department
- 3
- at hospital admission
- 4
- 24 hours or more after hospital admission
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- Coma scale verbal score of 2
- Incomprehensible sounds (2-5 years of age)
- Moans/grunts to pain; restless (<2 years old)
Risk adjustment
R40.222 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.
How R40.222 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 R40.222.
- Coma›with›verbal response›incomprehensible sounds(2-5 years of age)
- Coma›with›verbal response›incomprehensible words
- Coma›with›verbal response›moans/grunts to pain; restless(<2 years old)
- Coma›with›verbal response›score of›2
Code to one of these instead R40.222
5 child codes. Green means billable.
- R40.2220Coma scale, best verbal response, incomprehensible words, unspecified time
- R40.2221Coma scale, best verbal response, incomprehensible words, in the field [EMT or ambulance]
- R40.2222Coma scale, best verbal response, incomprehensible words, at arrival to emergency department
- R40.2223Coma scale, best verbal response, incomprehensible words, at hospital admission
- R40.2224Coma scale, best verbal response, incomprehensible words, 24 hours or more after hospital admission
Related codes at this level
Codes that share R40.22. If R40.222 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.
Questions about R40.222
- Is R40.222 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- No. R40.222 is a non-billable header code. Code to a higher level of specificity using one of its child codes.
- Where does R40.222 sit in the tabular list?
- Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R99), in the block Symptoms and signs involving cognition, perception, emotional state and behavior (R40-R46).