W16 vs W69.XXXA
W16 (Fall, jump or diving into water) compared with W69.XXXA (Accidental drowning and submersion while in natural water, initial encounter), 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. W69.XXXA 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 water | W69.XXXAAccidental drowning and submersion while in natural water, initial encounter | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing status | Non-billable header Report instead: W16.011A, W16.011D, W16.011S, W16.012A, W16.012D | Billable |
| Classification | V00-Y99 — External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99) | V00-Y99 — External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99) |
| Definition | Fall, jump or diving into water is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (W16). | Accidental drowning and submersion while in natural water, initial encounter is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (W69A). |
| 7th character | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category W16 | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to code W69 |
| Includes | — | Accidental drowning and submersion while in lake Accidental drowning and submersion while in open sea Accidental drowning and submersion while in river Accidental drowning and submersion while in stream |
Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources