T20.70XA vs T20.70XS
T20.70XA (Corrosion of third degree of head, face, and neck, unspecified site, initial encounter) compared with T20.70XS (Corrosion of third degree of head, face, and neck, unspecified site, sequela), from the official CMS tabular data. T20.70XA and T20.70XS code the same injury at a different phase of treatment.
Can these codes be reported together?
Same injury, other encounter phase. T20.70XA and T20.70XS 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
| T20.70XACorrosion of third degree of head, face, and neck, unspecified site, initial encounter | T20.70XSCorrosion of third degree of head, face, and neck, unspecified site, 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 | Corrosion of third degree of head, face, and neck, unspecified site, initial encounter is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (T20.70A). | Corrosion of third degree of head, face, and neck, unspecified site, sequela is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (T20.70S). |
| 7th character | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category T20 | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category T20 |
| Includes | burns and corrosions of first degree [erythema] burns and corrosions of second degree [blisters][epidermal loss] burns and corrosions of third degree [deep necrosis of underlying tissue] [full- thickness skin loss] | burns and corrosions of first degree [erythema] burns and corrosions of second degree [blisters][epidermal loss] burns and corrosions of third degree [deep necrosis of underlying tissue] [full- thickness skin loss] |
| Use additional code | external cause code to identify place (Y92) code from category T31 or T32 to identify extent of body surface involved | external cause code to identify place (Y92) code from category T31 or T32 to identify extent of body surface involved |
| Code first | (T51-T65) to identify chemical and intent | (T51-T65) to identify chemical and intent |
Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources