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Compare/S44.22XA vs S54.2

S44.22XA vs S54.2

S44.22XA (Injury of radial nerve at upper arm level, left arm, initial encounter) compared with S54.2 (Injury of radial nerve at forearm level), 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. S44.22XA carries an Excludes1 note covering S54.2: “radial nerve NOS (S54.2)”

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

S44.22XAInjury of radial nerve at upper arm level, left arm, initial encounterS54.2Injury of radial nerve at forearm level
Billing statusBillableNon-billable header

Report instead: S54.20XA, S54.20XD, S54.20XS, S54.21XA, S54.21XD

ClassificationS00-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)
DefinitionInjury of radial nerve at upper arm level, left arm, initial encounter is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (S44.22A).Injury of radial nerve at forearm level is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (S54.2).
7th characterThe appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category S44The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category S54
Includes
injuries of axilla
injuries of scapular region
Injury of radial nerve NOS

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