Is R71.0 a billable ICD-10-CM code?

Yes. R71.0 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.

Where does R71.0 sit in the tabular list?

Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R99), in the block Abnormal findings on examination of blood, without diagnosis (R70-R79).

What cannot be coded together with R71.0?

R71.0 carries Excludes1 notes, which means the conditions they list can never be coded together with it on the same encounter. Some are written on the categories above R71.0 (R71) and apply to it just the same.

R71.0

R71.0 — Precipitous drop in hematocrit

Billable / specific codeICD-10-CM

R71.0 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for precipitous drop in hematocrit. It is valid for submission on a claim.

Inclusion terms

Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.

Drop (precipitous) in hemoglobin
Drop in hematocrit

Excludes1 inherited from the categories above R71.0

These are not written on R71.0, but they bind it: a note on a category applies to every code beneath it. Billing R71.0 with anything listed here is a denial.

Written on R71 — Abnormality of red blood cells

anemias (D50-D64)
anemia of premature infant (P61.2)
benign (familial) polycythemia (D75.0)
congenital anemias (P61.2-P61.4)
newborn anemia due to isoimmunization (P55.-)
polycythemia neonatorum (P61.1)
polycythemia NOS (D75.1)
polycythemia vera (D45)
secondary polycythemia (D75.1)

Risk adjustment

R71.0 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

R71.0 is named in 2 Medicare coverage policies — 2 listing it as supporting medical necessity. Which of them applies to you depends on your Medicare contractor, and coverage genuinely differs by state.

A56767Billing and Coding: Heavy Metal Testing
A57342Billing and Coding: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Colonoscopy

How R71.0 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 R71.0.

Decrease›hematocrit
Decrease›hemoglobin
Drop›hematocrit(precipitous)
Drop›hemoglobin
Findings, abnormal, inconclusive, without diagnosis›hematocrit drop(precipitous)

Code history

R71.0 has not changed since FY2024 — no addition, revision or deletion across the three most recent ICD-10-CM releases.

Related codes at this level

Codes that share R71. If R71.0 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.

R71.8Other abnormality of red blood cells

Questions about R71.0

Is R71.0 a billable ICD-10-CM code?: Yes. R71.0 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
Where does R71.0 sit in the tabular list?: Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R99), in the block Abnormal findings on examination of blood, without diagnosis (R70-R79).
What cannot be coded together with R71.0?: R71.0 carries Excludes1 notes, which means the conditions they list can never be coded together with it on the same encounter. Some are written on the categories above R71.0 (R71) and apply to it just the same.