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E16.2 ICD-10-CM Code: Hypoglycemia, unspecified

Billing Status: YES. This is a valid, specific, and billable ICD-10-CM reference.

Coding at a Glance

Tabular directives
1 Excludes1 · 1 use-additional code

Inpatient Payment Groups (MS-DRG)

Potential MS-DRG participation — not a DRG assignment.

MS-DRGs this diagnosis helps define, as principal or secondary, per the CMS ICD-10-CM/PCS MS-DRG Definitions Manual v43, Appendix B.

  • MS-DRG 640 — MISCELLANEOUS DISORDERS OF NUTRITION, METABOLISM, FLUIDS AND ELECTROLYTES WITH MCC (MDC 10)
  • MS-DRG 641 — MISCELLANEOUS DISORDERS OF NUTRITION, METABOLISM, FLUIDS AND ELECTROLYTES WITHOUT MCC (MDC 10)

A diagnosis appearing in a group's logic does not by itself determine the DRG assigned to a stay; the grouper uses the full claim.

Coding instructions

Official Tabular Instructional Notes: the inclusion, exclusion and sequencing notes published for E16.2 in the official ICD-10-CM tabular list, quoted as published.

Source: CMS/CDC — ICD-10-CM Tabular ListRelease: FY2026Effective: October 1, 2025

Excludes1 — Not Coded Here

Conditions generally not reported together with this code (Excludes1) -- an error unless the two conditions are documented as unrelated to each other (ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, Section I.A.12.a).

Use Additional Code

Supplementary codes the tabular list directs you to add.

  • Use additional code for hypoglycemia level, if applicable (E16.A-)

Coder workflow for E16.2

MedCoder structured workflow — derived from this code’s own official record

Before you code E16.2

  1. Unspecified does not mean incorrect. When the record gives no greater specificity, E16.2 may be the appropriate code. Check the record for detail that supports a more specific sibling. An unspecified code is for records that do not provide the detail a more specific code needs; a query, not an assumption, is the route to specificity (Guidelines I.A.9.b, I.B.18).

    ReviewE16.0, E16.1, E16.3, E16.4, E16.8, E16.A

    See the relationships section · Guide: Other vs unspecified (NEC vs NOS) →

  2. Check the Excludes1 note: if the documentation supports a condition named there, do not simply proceed with E16.2. Excludes1 conditions are not reported together with this code unless the record shows they are unrelated (Guidelines I.A.12.a).

    See the official tabular notes

Choose the right path

  1. Does the record document the detail a more specific sibling code needs?
    Yes → Review the specific siblings in this subcategory.
    No → Continue — E16.2 is appropriate when the documentation goes no further.

    ReviewE16.0, E16.1, E16.3, E16.4, E16.8, E16.A

  2. Does the documentation support a condition named in E16.2’s Excludes1 note?
    Yes → Do not simply proceed: review the excluded code. Both are reported only when the record shows the two conditions are unrelated.
    No → Continue.

    ReviewE08.649, E10.649, E11.649, E13.649

Consider E16.2. Then work the Use Additional Code note, and confirm the code is valid for the date of service in the Verify section.

Documentation check

The provider’s diagnostic statement
Codes are assigned from the provider’s documented diagnosis, not from clinical criteria, test values or a medication list (Guidelines I.A.19).
The conditions the Use Additional Code note names
Reported with this code when documented; a conditional instruction (“if applicable”, “if known”) applies only when the record supports it.
Any detail beyond this code’s title
What the record states that a more specific sibling code would capture — or its absence, which itself supports the unspecified code.

Official instructions as workflow

  • Excludes1 — check before selecting E16.2(1 note)

    Coding workflow: If the documentation supports a condition named in this note, do not simply proceed with E16.2: the two are not reported together. The one exception is when the record shows the two conditions are unrelated to each other.

    CompareE08.649, E10.649, E11.649, E13.649

    See the official tabular notes · Guidelines I.A.12.a

  • Use Additional Code — after identifying E16.2(1 note)

    Coding workflow: Check whether the documentation supports the additional code(s) the note names, and report them with E16.2 when it does. Where the instruction is conditional (“if applicable”, “if known”), it applies only when the record documents the condition.

    ReviewE16.A

    See the official tabular notes · Guidelines I.A.13

Coding decision scenarios

Pattern scenarios for this code’s structure — decision rules, not clinical cases

Documentation: The provider documents the condition in the terms of this code’s title and records no further detail.

Coding question: Is a more specific sibling code supportable?

Path: Review the specific siblings in this subcategory and what each requires the record to state.

Reason: A more specific code needs documentation of the distinguishing element; without it the unspecified code is appropriate, and a provider query is the route to specificity (Guidelines I.A.9.b, I.B.18).

ReviewE16.0, E16.1, E16.3, E16.4, E16.8, E16.A

Documentation: Both the condition E16.2 describes and a condition named in its Excludes1 note are documented for the same encounter.

Coding question: Can both codes be reported?

Path: Review the Excludes1 note and the excluded code, and look for a provider statement on whether the two conditions are related.

Reason: Excludes1 means the two are not coded together; the exception is when the record shows the conditions are unrelated to each other (Guidelines I.A.12.a).

ReviewE08.649, E10.649, E11.649, E13.649

Documentation: A condition the Use Additional Code note names is documented.

Coding question: Is a second code reported with E16.2?

Path: Review the Use Additional Code note and the code it names.

Reason: The additional code is reported when the record documents the condition; a conditional instruction applies only when its condition is met (Guidelines I.A.13).

ReviewE16.A

Every row is derived from this code’s own record — its title, tabular notes, 7th-character family and same-category siblings — with fixed MedCoder wording; nothing is inferred about a patient. The official notes and guideline text are in the sections each row links to, and they control.

Code Overview

Hypoglycemia, unspecified is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (E16.2).

MedCoder summary Summary composed by MedCoder from this code's official ICD-10-CM record. The tabular instructional notes themselves appear verbatim below.

Indexed Clinical Terms (11)

Official source data — entries quoted as published, in the Index’s own lookup phrasing

Clinical term phrases from the official ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries that map to this code. These are alphabetic-index entries shown as the Index writes them — lookup phrasing, not necessarily the wording of a final diagnosis.

Verify Before Coding

  • No Medicare Code Editor or MS-DRG Definitions Manual restrictions apply to this code.

From the code registry, the Medicare Code Editor, and the MS-DRG Definitions Manual. Check it against a full claim in Claim Check.

Relationships & Classification

MedCoder structured relationships — computed from published CMS and AHRQ datasets

Other codes that name E16.2 or its code family, from the CMS ICD-10-CM tabular instructional notes. Tabular-note edges are stored at the code family level that carries each note.

Referenced by 4 Excludes1 notes across 2 chapters: E74 — Other disorders of carbohydrate metabolism, E89.1 — Postprocedural hypoinsulinemia, R73.0 — Abnormal glucose, R79 — Other abnormal findings of blood chemistry.

These codes’ tabular lists mark this diagnosis as mutually exclusive — not reported together unless the conditions are documented as unrelated.

Referenced by 1 Code First instruction: G63 — Polyneuropathy in diseases classified elsewhere (via E16.-).

Each of these codes carries a Code First note naming this condition — when that code is reported, THIS code is sequenced first, ahead of it.

MS-DRG Grouper Relationships (FY2026)

Potential MS-DRG participation — not a DRG assignment.

FY2026 MS-DRG: not on the CMS CC/MCC list — as a secondary diagnosis this code does not change MS-DRG severity for that release.

Named in the grouper logic of 2 MS-DRGs: DRG 640 (MDC 10), DRG 641 (MDC 10).

From the CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual (Appendices B and C). Actual DRG assignment depends on the complete claim.

Clinical classification (AHRQ CCSR):END015 — Other specified and unspecified endocrine disorders (default).

Clinical Classifications Software Refined (CCSR) for ICD-10-CM Diagnoses. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Related Codes

Same clinical category (CCSR)

AHRQ's Clinical Classifications Software groups these diagnoses under the same clinical category (Other specified and unspecified endocrine disorders).

A18.7 — Tuberculosis of adrenal glands, A18.82 — Tuberculosis of other endocrine glands, A39.1 — Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome, E15 — Nondiabetic hypoglycemic coma, E16.0 — Drug-induced hypoglycemia without coma, E16.1 — Other hypoglycemia, E16.3 — Increased secretion of glucagon, E16.4 — Increased secretion of gastrin, E16.8 — Other specified disorders of pancreatic internal secretion, E16.9 — Disorder of pancreatic internal secretion, unspecified, E16.A1 — Hypoglycemia level 1, E16.A2 — Hypoglycemia level 2, E16.A3 — Hypoglycemia level 3, E20.0 — Idiopathic hypoparathyroidism, E20.1 — Pseudohypoparathyroidism, E20.8 — Other hypoparathyroidism, E20.810 — Autosomal dominant hypocalcemia, E20.811 — Secondary hypoparathyroidism in diseases classified elsewhere, E20.812 — Autoimmune hypoparathyroidism, E20.818 — Other specified hypoparathyroidism due to impaired parathyroid hormone secretion, +83 more

Same Index main term, other category

The ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries files this code under the main terms “Decrease”, “Polyneuropathy”, “Encephalopathy”, …; these codes share that main term but sit in a different category of the Tabular List.

D51.0 — Vitamin B12 deficiency anemia due to intrinsic factor deficiency (in, vitamin B12 deficiency, with anemia), D51.3 — Other dietary vitamin B12 deficiency anemia (in, vitamin B12 deficiency, with anemia, due to dietary deficiency), D58.8 — Other specified hereditary hemolytic anemias (fragility of erythrocytes), D69.6 — Thrombocytopenia, unspecified (platelets), D72.810 — Lymphocytopenia (lymphocytes), D72.818 — Other decreased white blood cell count (leukocytes, specified NEC), D72.819 — Decreased white blood cell count, unspecified (leukocytes), D72.9 — Disorder of white blood cells, unspecified (white blood cell), D86.89 — Sarcoidosis of other sites (in, sarcoidosis), E15 — Nondiabetic hypoglycemic coma (coma), E23.0 — Hypopituitarism (function, pituitary), E28.39 — Other primary ovarian failure (estrogen), E34.9 — Endocrine disorder, unspecified (in, endocrine disease NEC), E51.11 — Dry beriberi (in, beriberi), E51.2 — Wernicke's encephalopathy (Wernicke's), E52 — Niacin deficiency [pellagra] (pellagrous), E53.1 — Pyridoxine deficiency (in, deficiency, vitamin B6), E53.8 — Deficiency of other specified B group vitamins (in, vitamin B12 deficiency), E53.9 — Vitamin B deficiency, unspecified (vitamin B deficiency NEC), E56.9 — Vitamin deficiency, unspecified (in, lack of vitamin), +172 more

Lab tests where this diagnosis supports Medicare coverage (NCD)

Medicare's National Coverage Determination (NCD) program lists this diagnosis as medical justification for these lab tests.

HbA1c Test (Glycated Hemoglobin), Blood Glucose Test

Contextual Map

Every relationship of E16.2 in one view: hierarchy, official tabular instructions in both directions, clinical classification, risk adjustment, MS-DRG participation, index terms and change history — each edge carrying the CMS source it derives from.

Run E16.2 with these 10 related codes in Claim Check

Hierarchy

Excludes1

Use Additional Code

  • E16.A — Hypoglycemia level[Use Additional Code]: “code for hypoglycemia level, if applicable (E16.A-)”— CMS ICD-10-CM tabular instructional notes · icd10cm-fy2026

Referenced by Excludes1 notes

Referenced by Code First instructions

Clinical classification (CCSR)

MS-DRG Grouper

MDC crossing

  • MDC 10 — Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases and Disorders[MDC crossing]: “Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases and Disorders — the grouper's crossing between diagnoses and procedures: a principal diagnosis sets the MDC, and same-MDC procedures move the stay to its surgical DRGs. 5,008 same-MDC procedures group here; browse them on the MDC page.”— CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual · FY2026

Index entries (11)

  • Decrease (d), blood, glucose[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Decrease (d), glucose[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Encephalopathy (acute), hypoglycemic[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Findings, abnormal, inconclusive, without diagnosis, blood sugar, low (transient)[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Glycopenia[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Hypoglycemia (spontaneous)[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • McQuarrie's syndrome (idiopathic familial hypoglycemia)[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Polyneuropathy (peripheral), in (due to), hypoglycemia[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • and 3 more

Nearest codes (11)

Change history

  • FY2016 — In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption [Change history]— CMS release files (code change ledger) · icd10cm-fy2016

Sources for this page

Codes, titles, notes, index terms and mappings on this page are transcribed from the datasets below. Relationships MedCoder computed and text MedCoder wrote are labelled where they appear.

Code, title, tabular notes and index terms Official source data
CMS/CDC ICD-10-CM FY2026 tabular list, index and tables, effective October 1, 2025 Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Claim edits Official source data
CMS Definitions of Medicare Code Edits — v43.1 (April 2026) Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Inpatient payment groups Official source data
CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual (incl. Appendix B diagnosis index, Appendix C CC/MCC list, Appendix E procedure index) and IPPS Final Rule tables — v43 Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Change history and date-of-service validity Official source data
CMS ICD-10-CM release addenda, ingested release by release into the change ledger Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Comparisons, relationships and the contextual map MedCoder structured relationship
Computed by MedCoder from the tabular notes and tables above; every derived relationship is marked as derived where it appears
Summary and FAQ answers MedCoder explanation
Written by MedCoder to explain the sources above: drafted with AI assistance, checked by a person against the release files, and labelled as MedCoder text where it appears. Not official text.

Labels on this page: Official source data · MedCoder structured relationship · MedCoder explanation. How to read the labels · All data sources and release dates

Cite this page

Reference this page in a research guide, syllabus or article. The release is included because code content changes each year.

MedCoder.ai. "E16.2 — Hypoglycemia, unspecified." ICD-10-CM FY2026. https://medcoder.ai/icd10/code/e16.2-hypoglycemia-unspecified

Change history

  • FY2016 — October 1, 2015
    In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption
    Hypoglycemia, unspecified

No changes since FY2016 — additions, deletions, description changes and billable-status changes are tracked through FY2027 (effective October 1, 2026), and none are recorded for this code. Note changes are tracked from FY2027 only.

Nearest Codes in This Family

Official ICD-10-CM classifications closest to E16.2 in its code family, with their registry titles.

View all codes in the E16 family