Is Z48.03 a billable ICD-10-CM code?

Yes. Z48.03 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.

Where does Z48.03 sit in the tabular list?

Factors influencing health status and contact with health services (Z00-Z99), in the block Encounters for other specific health care (Z40-Z53).

What cannot be coded together with Z48.03?

Z48.03 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 Z48.03 (Z48.0, Z48) and apply to it just the same.

Z48.03

Z48.03 — Encounter for change or removal of drains

Billable / specific codeICD-10-CMPOA exempt

Z48.03 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for encounter for change or removal of drains. It is valid for submission on a claim.

Excludes1 inherited from the categories above Z48.03

These are not written on Z48.03, but they bind it: a note on a category applies to every code beneath it. Billing Z48.03 with anything listed here is a denial.

Written on Z48.0 — Encounter for attention to dressings, sutures and drains

encounter for planned postprocedural wound closure (Z48.1)

Written on Z48 — Encounter for other postprocedural aftercare

encounter for follow-up examination after completed treatment (Z08-Z09)
encounter for aftercare following injury - code to Injury, by site, with appropriate 7th character for subsequent encounter

Excludes2 inherited from the categories above Z48.03

Also inherited, and the opposite of Excludes1: these conditions are not part of Z48.03, but a patient can have both, so you may code both.

Written on Z48 — Encounter for other postprocedural aftercare

encounter for attention to artificial openings (Z43.-)
encounter for fitting and adjustment of prosthetic and other devices (Z44-Z46)

Risk adjustment

Z48.03 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

Z48.03 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.

A53064Billing and Coding: Outpatient Occupational Therapy
A57591Billing and Coding: Non-Invasive Abdominal / Visceral Vascular Studies

How Z48.03 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 Z48.03.

Removal›drains
Admission›removal of›drains
Aftercare›following surgery›attention to›drains
Aftercare›involving›removal of›drains

Code history

Z48.03 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 Z48.0. If Z48.03 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.

Questions about Z48.03

Is Z48.03 a billable ICD-10-CM code?: Yes. Z48.03 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
Where does Z48.03 sit in the tabular list?: Factors influencing health status and contact with health services (Z00-Z99), in the block Encounters for other specific health care (Z40-Z53).
What cannot be coded together with Z48.03?: Z48.03 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 Z48.03 (Z48.0, Z48) and apply to it just the same.