Skip to main content

K40.90 ICD-10-CM Code: Unilateral inguinal hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, not specified as recurrent

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

Coding at a Glance

Tabular directives
12 inclusion terms

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 393 — OTHER DIGESTIVE SYSTEM DIAGNOSES WITH MCC (MDC 06)
  • MS-DRG 394 — OTHER DIGESTIVE SYSTEM DIAGNOSES WITH CC (MDC 06)
  • MS-DRG 395 — OTHER DIGESTIVE SYSTEM DIAGNOSES WITHOUT CC/MCC (MDC 06)

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 K40.90 in the official ICD-10-CM tabular list, quoted as published.

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

Notes without a marker are published on K40.90 itself; “inherited from” names the category or block whose note applies here.

Includes

Conditions the official ICD-10-CM tabular list includes under this code.

  • bubonocele inherited from K40
  • direct inguinal hernia inherited from K40
  • double inguinal hernia inherited from K40
  • indirect inguinal hernia inherited from K40
  • inguinal hernia NOS inherited from K40
  • oblique inguinal hernia inherited from K40
  • scrotal hernia inherited from K40
  • acquired hernia inherited from K40-K46
  • congenital [except diaphragmatic or hiatus] hernia inherited from K40-K46
  • recurrent hernia inherited from K40-K46

Inclusion Terms

Alternative terms the tabular list files under this code.

  • Inguinal hernia NOS
  • Unilateral inguinal hernia NOS

Code Overview

Unilateral inguinal hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, not specified as recurrent is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (K40.90).

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 (4)

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.

Official Coding Guidelines

No excerpt in the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines names this code specifically. Its chapter carries only this chapter-wide note:

Chapter 11: Diseases of the Digestive System (K00-K95)

Reserved for future guideline expansion

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 K40.90 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 1 Excludes2 note: K56.7 — Ileus, unspecified (via K40.-).

These codes’ tabular lists name this diagnosis as distinct — both may be reported when both are documented.

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 3 MS-DRGs: DRG 393 (MDC 06), DRG 394 (MDC 06), DRG 395 (MDC 06).

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

Clinical classification (AHRQ CCSR):DIG010 — Abdominal hernia (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 (Abdominal hernia).

K40.00 — Bilateral inguinal hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, not specified as recurrent, K40.01 — Bilateral inguinal hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, recurrent, K40.10 — Bilateral inguinal hernia, with gangrene, not specified as recurrent, K40.11 — Bilateral inguinal hernia, with gangrene, recurrent, K40.20 — Bilateral inguinal hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, not specified as recurrent, K40.21 — Bilateral inguinal hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, recurrent, K40.30 — Unilateral inguinal hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, not specified as recurrent, K40.31 — Unilateral inguinal hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, recurrent, K40.40 — Unilateral inguinal hernia, with gangrene, not specified as recurrent, K40.41 — Unilateral inguinal hernia, with gangrene, recurrent, K40.91 — Unilateral inguinal hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, recurrent, K41.00 — Bilateral femoral hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, not specified as recurrent, K41.01 — Bilateral femoral hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, recurrent, K41.10 — Bilateral femoral hernia, with gangrene, not specified as recurrent, K41.11 — Bilateral femoral hernia, with gangrene, recurrent, K41.20 — Bilateral femoral hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, not specified as recurrent, K41.21 — Bilateral femoral hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, recurrent, K41.30 — Unilateral femoral hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, not specified as recurrent, K41.31 — Unilateral femoral hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, recurrent, K41.40 — Unilateral femoral hernia, with gangrene, not specified as recurrent, +24 more

Same Index main term, other category

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

G93.5 — Compression of brain (foramen magnum), J98.4 — Other disorders of lung (lung), J98.59 — Other diseases of mediastinum, not elsewhere classified (mediastinum), K41.00 — Bilateral femoral hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, not specified as recurrent (femoral, bilateral, with, obstruction), K41.01 — Bilateral femoral hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, recurrent (femoral, bilateral, with, obstruction, recurrent), K41.10 — Bilateral femoral hernia, with gangrene, not specified as recurrent (femoral, bilateral, with, gangrene), K41.11 — Bilateral femoral hernia, with gangrene, recurrent (femoral, bilateral, with, gangrene, recurrent), K41.20 — Bilateral femoral hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, not specified as recurrent (femoral, bilateral), K41.21 — Bilateral femoral hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, recurrent (femoral, bilateral, recurrent), K41.30 — Unilateral femoral hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, not specified as recurrent (femoral, with, obstruction), K41.31 — Unilateral femoral hernia, with obstruction, without gangrene, recurrent (femoral, with, obstruction, recurrent), K41.40 — Unilateral femoral hernia, with gangrene, not specified as recurrent (femoral, with, gangrene), K41.41 — Unilateral femoral hernia, with gangrene, recurrent (femoral, with, gangrene, recurrent), K41.90 — Unilateral femoral hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, not specified as recurrent (femoral), K41.91 — Unilateral femoral hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, recurrent (femoral, recurrent), K42.0 — Umbilical hernia with obstruction, without gangrene (umbilicus, umbilical, with, obstruction), K42.1 — Umbilical hernia with gangrene (umbilicus, umbilical, with, gangrene), K42.9 — Umbilical hernia without obstruction or gangrene (umbilicus, umbilical), K43.0 — Incisional hernia with obstruction, without gangrene (incisional, with, obstruction), K43.1 — Incisional hernia with gangrene (incisional, with, gangrene), +30 more

Contextual Map

Every relationship of K40.90 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 K40.90 with this related code in Claim Check

Hierarchy

Referenced by Excludes2 notes

  • K56.7 — Ileus, unspecified[Excludes2](via K40.-): “intestinal obstruction with hernia (K40-K46)”— CMS ICD-10-CM tabular instructional notes · icd10cm-fy2026

Clinical classification (CCSR)

MS-DRG Grouper

MDC crossing

  • MDC 06 — Diseases and Disorders of the Digestive System[MDC crossing]: “Diseases and Disorders of the Digestive System — 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. 5,744 same-MDC procedures group here; browse them on the MDC page.”— CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual · FY2026

Index entries

  • Hernia, hernial (acquired) (recurrent), inguinal (direct) (external) (funicular) (indirect) (internal) (oblique) (scrotal) (sliding)[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Hernia, hernial (acquired) (recurrent), inguinal (direct) (external) (funicular) (indirect) (internal) (oblique) (scrotal) (sliding), not specified as recurrent[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Hernia, hernial (acquired) (recurrent), inguinal (direct) (external) (funicular) (indirect) (internal) (oblique) (scrotal) (sliding), unilateral[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Hernia, hernial (acquired) (recurrent), inguinal (direct) (external) (funicular) (indirect) (internal) (oblique) (scrotal) (sliding), unilateral, not specified as recurrent[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026

Nearest codes (18)

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
Coding guidelines Official source data
ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting (FY2026), quoted by section 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. "K40.90 — Unilateral inguinal hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, not specified as recurrent." ICD-10-CM FY2026. https://medcoder.ai/icd10/code/k40.90-unilateral-inguinal-hernia-without-obstruction-or-gangrene-not-specified-as-recurrent

Change history

  • FY2016 — October 1, 2015
    In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption
    Unilateral inguinal hernia, without obstruction or gangrene, not specified as recurrent

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 K40.90 in its code family, with their registry titles.

View all codes in the K40 family