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W16.41XA vs W65

W16.41XA (Fall into unspecified water causing drowning and submersion, initial encounter) 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. W16.41XA 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 W16.41XA: “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

W16.41XAFall into unspecified water causing drowning and submersion, initial encounterW65Accidental drowning and submersion while in bath-tub
Billing statusBillableNon-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 into unspecified water causing drowning and submersion, initial encounter is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (W16.41A).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