T17.500A vs T17.500D

T17.500A (Unspecified foreign body in bronchus causing asphyxiation, initial encounter) compared with T17.500D (Unspecified foreign body in bronchus causing asphyxiation, subsequent encounter), from the official CMS tabular data. T17.500A and T17.500D code the same injury at a different phase of treatment. MedCoder-derived

Relationship

Review

Encounter relationship

T17.500A

Initial encounter

Unspecified foreign body in bronchus causing asphyxiation, initial encounter

↔

T17.500D

Subsequent encounter

Unspecified foreign body in bronchus causing asphyxiation, subsequent encounter

Same underlying diagnosis, different encounter phase.

The 7th character records the phase of care for the encounter being coded, so a single encounter takes one of these characters, not several. Review whether both phases belong on the same episode of care.

Source: ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, Section I.C.19.a

Can these codes be reported together?

Same injury, other encounter phase. T17.500A and T17.500D 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

	T17.500AUnspecified foreign body in bronchus causing asphyxiation, initial encounter	T17.500DUnspecified foreign body in bronchus causing asphyxiation, subsequent encounter
Billing status	Billable	Billable
Classification	S00-T88 — Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes	S00-T88 — Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes
Definition	Unspecified foreign body in bronchus causing asphyxiation, initial encounter is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (T17.500A).	Unspecified foreign body in bronchus causing asphyxiation, subsequent encounter is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (T17.500D).
7th character	The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category T17	The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category T17
Use additional code	code, if known, for foreign body entering into or through a natural orifice (W44.-)	code, if known, for foreign body entering into or through a natural orifice (W44.-)

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