Unspecified superficial injury of forearm

Not billableICD-10-CM diagnosis code.

This code exists but cannot be submitted on its own. It groups the more specific codes beneath it.

A category header for its whole life, FY2016 onwards. It has never been valid for submission on its own.

Submit one of these 3 more specific codes instead:

S50.911 Unspecified superficial injury of right forearm (also a header)
S50.912 Unspecified superficial injury of left forearm (also a header)
S50.919 Unspecified superficial injury of unspecified forearm (also a header)

This code requires a seventh character. See the rule below.

What has happened to this code

Every change the publisher made, from 2012 to now. Entries marked draft are from the pre-implementation releases: ICD-10 took effect on 1 October 2015, so nothing before FY2016 was ever valid on a claim.

FY2012 Added to the draft code set draft Unspecified superficial injury of forearm

Official coding rules

Published by CDC for FY2027. A rule attached to a category binds every code beneath it, so the rules inherited from this code's ancestors are shown with the code they come from.

Inherited from S50 Superficial injury of elbow and forearm

Seventh character required

The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category S50

Excludes2 - not included here

superficial injury of wrist and hand (S60.-)

Inherited from the S50-S59 section Injuries to the elbow and forearm (S50-S59)

Excludes2 - not included here

burns and corrosions (T20-T32)
frostbite (T33-T34)
injuries of wrist and hand (S60-S69)
insect bite or sting, venomous (T63.4)

How CDC's index refers to this code

Wording from the official alphabetic index. Much of it appears nowhere in the code description, which is why a search for the everyday phrase so often finds nothing.

Injury > arm > lower
Injury > forearm > superficial
Injury > superficial NEC > forearm

Codes in the same group

Code	Description	Status
S50.90	Unspecified superficial injury of elbow	Not billable