S72.90XA vs S72.90XN
S72.90XA (Unspecified fracture of unspecified femur, initial encounter for closed fracture) compared with S72.90XN (Unspecified fracture of unspecified femur, subsequent encounter for open fracture type IIIA, IIIB, or IIIC with nonunion), from the official CMS tabular data. S72.90XA and S72.90XN code the same injury at a different phase of treatment.
Can these codes be reported together?
Same injury, other encounter phase. S72.90XA and S72.90XN 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
| S72.90XAUnspecified fracture of unspecified femur, initial encounter for closed fracture | S72.90XNUnspecified fracture of unspecified femur, subsequent encounter for open fracture type IIIA, IIIB, or IIIC with nonunion | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Unspecified fracture of unspecified femur, initial encounter for closed fracture is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (S72.90A). | Unspecified fracture of unspecified femur, subsequent encounter for open fracture type IIIA, IIIB, or IIIC with nonunion is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (S72.90N). |
| 7th character | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to all codes from category S72 | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to all codes from category S72 |
Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources