W59.2 vs W59.8
W59.2 (Contact with turtles) compared with W59.8 (Contact with other nonvenomous reptiles), 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. W59.2 carries an Excludes1 note covering W59.8: “contact with tortoises (W59.8-)”
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
| W59.2Contact with turtles | W59.8Contact with other nonvenomous reptiles | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing status | Non-billable header Report instead: W59.21XA, W59.21XD, W59.21XS, W59.22XA, W59.22XD | Non-billable header Report instead: W59.81XA, W59.81XD, W59.81XS, W59.82XA, W59.82XD |
| Classification | V00-Y99 — External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99) | V00-Y99 — External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99) |
| Definition | Contact with turtles is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (W59.2). | Contact with other nonvenomous reptiles is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (W59.8). |
| 7th character | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category W59 | The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category W59 |
Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources