T71 — Asphyxiation
T71 is a non-billable header ICD-10-CM code for asphyxiation. 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 T71
- A
- initial encounter
- D
- subsequent encounter
- S
- sequela
Excludes1 — never code together
These conditions cannot occur together. Billing both on the same encounter is a denial.
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- Mechanical suffocation
- Traumatic suffocation
Other codes that can never be billed with T71
These codes carry an Excludes1 note pointing at T71. The conflict binds both ways, but ICD-10-CM only writes it down on one side — so you would not find this by reading T71 alone.
- R09.0Asphyxia and hypoxemia
Risk adjustment
T71 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 T71 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 T71.
- Suffocation(accidental) (by external means) (by pressure) (mechanical)
Code to one of these instead T71
3 child codes. Green means billable.
Questions about T71
- Is T71 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- No. T71 is a non-billable header code. Code to a higher level of specificity using one of its child codes.
- Where does T71 sit in the tabular list?
- Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00-T88), in the block Other and unspecified effects of external causes (T66-T78).
- What cannot be coded together with T71?
- T71 carries an Excludes1 note, which means the conditions it lists can never be coded together with it on the same encounter.