S22.021A vs S22.021B
S22.021A (Stable burst fracture of second thoracic vertebra, initial encounter for closed fracture) compared with S22.021B (Stable burst fracture of second thoracic vertebra, initial encounter for open fracture), from the official CMS tabular data. S22.021A and S22.021B code the same injury at a different phase of treatment.
Can these codes be reported together?
Same injury, other encounter phase. S22.021A and S22.021B code the same injury at a different phase of treatment, set by the 7th character.
The 7th character records the type of care given at the encounter being coded (ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, Section I.C.19.a), so one encounter takes one of these, not both.
Side by side
| S22.021AStable burst fracture of second thoracic vertebra, initial encounter for closed fracture | S22.021BStable burst fracture of second thoracic vertebra, initial encounter for open fracture | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing status | Billable | Billable |
| Classification | S00-T88 — Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes (S00-T88) | S00-T88 — Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes (S00-T88) |
| Definition | Stable burst fracture of second thoracic vertebra, initial encounter for closed fracture is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (S22.021A). | Stable burst fracture of second thoracic vertebra, initial encounter for open fracture is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (S22.021B). |
| 7th character | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category S22 | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category S22 |
| Includes | fracture of thoracic neural arch fracture of thoracic spinous process fracture of thoracic transverse process fracture of thoracic vertebra | fracture of thoracic neural arch fracture of thoracic spinous process fracture of thoracic transverse process fracture of thoracic vertebra |
| Code first | , if applicable, spinal cord injury (S24.0-, S24.1-) | , if applicable, spinal cord injury (S24.0-, S24.1-) |
Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources