Skip to main content

M12.5 vs M16.5

M12.5 (Traumatic arthropathy) compared with M16.5 (Unilateral post-traumatic osteoarthritis of hip), from the official CMS tabular data. Do not report these codes together: the official tabular list marks them Excludes1.

Can these codes be reported together?

No — do not report together. M12.5 carries an Excludes1 note covering M16.5: “post-traumatic osteoarthritis of hip (M16.4-M16.5)”

Sole exception: when the two conditions are documented as unrelated to each other (ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, Section I.A.12.a).

Side by side

M12.5Traumatic arthropathyM16.5Unilateral post-traumatic osteoarthritis of hip
Billing statusNon-billable header

Report instead: M12.50, M12.511, M12.512, M12.519, M12.521

Non-billable header

Report instead: M16.50, M16.51, M16.52

ClassificationM00-M99 — Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue (M00-M99)M00-M99 — Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue (M00-M99)
DefinitionTraumatic arthropathy is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (M12.5).Unilateral post-traumatic osteoarthritis of hip is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (M16.5).
Includes
Post-traumatic osteoarthritis of hip NOS

Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources