S20-S29 — Injuries to the thorax
ICD-10-CM codes S20-S29 cover injuries to the thorax, within injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes. The block holds 2,243 codes across 10 categories, of which 1,605 are billable and 638 are header codes that cannot be submitted on a claim. 2,243 of them (100%) require a 7th character.
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.
- burns and corrosions (T20-T32)
- effects of foreign body in bronchus (T17.5)
- effects of foreign body in esophagus (T18.1)
- effects of foreign body in lung (T17.8)
- effects of foreign body in trachea (T17.4)
- frostbite (T33-T34)
- injuries of axilla
- injuries of clavicle
- injuries of scapular region
- injuries of shoulder
- insect bite or sting, venomous (T63.4)
Includes
Conditions this code covers.
- injuries of breast
- injuries of chest (wall)
- injuries of interscapular area
The 7th character in S20-S29
A code in this block is not complete without its 7th character, and a missing one is a rejected claim rather than a denied one: the clearinghouse never passes it on. 2,243 of the 2,243 codes here take one.
- A
- initial encounter
- D
- subsequent encounter
- S
- sequela
Risk adjustment in S20-S29
0 codes in this block map to a CMS-HCC, which means the diagnosis carries a risk-adjustment payment when it is documented and coded. Under-coding here is money left on the table; over-coding here is what audits are for.
- HCC 401 Vertebral Fractures without Spinal Cord Injury
- HCC 182 Spinal Cord Disorders/Injuries
- HCC 181 Paraplegia
What else to watch in S20-S29
- 620 codes are laterality-specific. They come in left and right pairs, and the pair is mutually exclusive on a single site: coding both without a bilateral code is a contradiction a scrubber should catch before the payer does.
- 1,386 codes are named in Medicare coverage policies. An LCD or NCD lists them as supporting medical necessity, or explicitly as not supporting it. Which applies depends on the MAC for your state.
Categories in S20-S29
- S20Superficial injury of thorax
- S21Open wound of thorax
- S22Fracture of rib(s), sternum and thoracic spine
- S23Dislocation and sprain of joints and ligaments of thorax
- S24Injury of nerves and spinal cord at thorax level
- S25Injury of blood vessels of thorax
- S26Injury of heart
- S27Injury of other and unspecified intrathoracic organs
- S28Crushing injury of thorax, and traumatic amputation of part of thorax
- S29Other and unspecified injuries of thorax