Z48.03 — Encounter for change or removal of drains
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.
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
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).