T79.A19A vs T79.A19S
T79.A19A (Traumatic compartment syndrome of unspecified upper extremity, initial encounter) compared with T79.A19S (Traumatic compartment syndrome of unspecified upper extremity, sequela), from the official CMS tabular data. T79.A19A and T79.A19S code the same injury at a different phase of treatment.
Can these codes be reported together?
Same injury, other encounter phase. T79.A19A and T79.A19S 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
| T79.A19ATraumatic compartment syndrome of unspecified upper extremity, initial encounter | T79.A19STraumatic compartment syndrome of unspecified upper extremity, 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 | Traumatic compartment syndrome of unspecified upper extremity, initial encounter is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (T79.A19A). | Traumatic compartment syndrome of unspecified upper extremity, sequela is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (T79.A19S). |
| 7th character | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category T79 | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category T79 |
Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources