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Compare/W16 vs W65

W16 vs W65

W16 (Fall, jump or diving into water) compared with W65 (Accidental drowning and submersion while in bath-tub), from the official CMS tabular data. Do not report these codes together: the official tabular list marks them Excludes1.

Can these codes be reported together?

No — do not report together. W16 carries an Excludes1 note covering W65: “accidental non-watercraft drowning and submersion not involving fall (W65-W74)”

Sole exception: when the two conditions are documented as unrelated to each other (ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, Section I.A.12.a).

No — do not report together. W65 carries an Excludes1 note covering W16: “accidental drowning and submersion due to fall into water (W16.-)”

Sole exception: when the two conditions are documented as unrelated to each other (ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, Section I.A.12.a).

Side by side

W16Fall, jump or diving into waterW65Accidental drowning and submersion while in bath-tub
Billing statusNon-billable header

Report instead: W16.011A, W16.011D, W16.011S, W16.012A, W16.012D

Non-billable header

Report instead: W65.XXXA, W65.XXXD, W65.XXXS

ClassificationV00-Y99 — External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99)V00-Y99 — External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99)
DefinitionFall, jump or diving into water is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (W16).Accidental drowning and submersion while in bath-tub is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (W65).
7th characterThe appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category W16The appropriate 7th character is to be added to code W65

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