S82.51XA vs S82.51XQ
S82.51XA (Displaced fracture of medial malleolus of right tibia, initial encounter for closed fracture) compared with S82.51XQ (Displaced fracture of medial malleolus of right tibia, subsequent encounter for open fracture type I or II with malunion), from the official CMS tabular data. S82.51XA and S82.51XQ code the same injury at a different phase of treatment.
Can these codes be reported together?
Same injury, other encounter phase. S82.51XA and S82.51XQ 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
| S82.51XADisplaced fracture of medial malleolus of right tibia, initial encounter for closed fracture | S82.51XQDisplaced fracture of medial malleolus of right tibia, subsequent encounter for open fracture type I or II with malunion | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Displaced fracture of medial malleolus of right tibia, initial encounter for closed fracture is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (S82.51A). | Displaced fracture of medial malleolus of right tibia, subsequent encounter for open fracture type I or II with malunion is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (S82.51Q). |
| 7th character | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to all codes from category S82 | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to all codes from category S82 |
| Includes | fracture of malleolus | fracture of malleolus |
Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources