S50 — Superficial injury of elbow and forearm
S50 is a non-billable header ICD-10-CM code for superficial injury of elbow and forearm. 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 appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category S50
- A
- initial encounter
- D
- subsequent encounter
- S
- sequela
Excludes2 — not included here, but may coexist
The excluded condition is not part of this code, but a patient can have both. You may code both.
- superficial injury of wrist and hand (S60.-)
Other codes that can never be billed with S50
These codes carry an Excludes1 note pointing at S50. The conflict binds both ways, but ICD-10-CM only writes it down on one side — so you would not find this by reading S50 alone.
Risk adjustment
S50 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 to one of these instead S50
5 child codes. Green means billable.
Questions about S50
- Is S50 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- No. S50 is a non-billable header code. Code to a higher level of specificity using one of its child codes.
- Where does S50 sit in the tabular list?
- Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00-T88), in the block Injuries to the elbow and forearm (S50-S59).