S22.038A vs S22.038S
S22.038A (Other fracture of third thoracic vertebra, initial encounter for closed fracture) compared with S22.038S (Other fracture of third thoracic vertebra, sequela), from the official CMS tabular data. S22.038A and S22.038S code the same injury at a different phase of treatment.
Can these codes be reported together?
Same injury, other encounter phase. S22.038A and S22.038S 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
| S22.038AOther fracture of third thoracic vertebra, initial encounter for closed fracture | S22.038SOther fracture of third thoracic vertebra, sequela | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Other fracture of third thoracic vertebra, initial encounter for closed fracture is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (S22.038A). | Other fracture of third thoracic vertebra, sequela is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (S22.038S). |
| 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