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P91.2 ICD-10-CM Code: Neonatal cerebral leukomalacia

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

Coding at a Glance

Tabular directives
1 inclusion term
Risk adjustment
CMS-HCC V28: 1 category

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 v44, Appendix B.

  • MS-DRG 091 — OTHER DISORDERS OF NERVOUS SYSTEM WITH MCC (MDC 01)
  • MS-DRG 092 — OTHER DISORDERS OF NERVOUS SYSTEM WITH CC (MDC 01)
  • MS-DRG 093 — OTHER DISORDERS OF NERVOUS SYSTEM WITHOUT CC/MCC (MDC 01)
  • MS-DRG 791 — PREMATURITY WITH MAJOR PROBLEMS (MDC 15)
  • MS-DRG 793 — FULL TERM NEONATE WITH MAJOR PROBLEMS (MDC 15)

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.

Risk Adjustment (CMS-HCC)

Payment categories this diagnosis maps to under CMS-HCC V28, payment year 2026.

  • HCC 202 — Coma, Brain Compression/Anoxic Damage

Risk scores depend on the enrollee's full accepted diagnosis set and segment; a category mapping alone does not determine payment.

Coding instructions

Official Tabular Instructional Notes: the inclusion, exclusion and sequencing notes published for P91.2 in the official ICD-10-CM tabular list, quoted as published.

Source: CMS/CDC — ICD-10-CM Tabular ListRelease: FY2027Effective: October 1, 2026

Trace:FY2027 changesChange historyRelease, file and checksum

Inclusion Terms

Alternative terms the tabular list files under this code.

  • Periventricular leukomalacia

Don’t confuse P91.2 with…

MedCoder analysis — pairs from this code’s official notes, distinctions written by MedCoder

The codes most likely to be picked instead of P91.2 — named in its own official notes, or sharing its laterality or encounter family — with what separates them and which documentation moves the case. Each links to the full comparison.

  • P91.9— Specificity relationship (Review)

    Overlapping diagnoses in the same category.

    Overlapping codes in the same category — the documentation decides which is the more specific fit.

    What moves you there: A record that documents no more than “Disturbance of cerebral status of newborn, unspecified” takes P91.9; specificity in the record moves it back here.

    Full comparison: P91.2 vs P91.9 →

Relationships are read from this code's own official notes, its laterality siblings and its encounter family; the wording of each distinction is MedCoder editorial, and the documentation named in each “what moves you there” line is the official note phrase or sibling title itself. Source: CMS ICD-10-CM tabular instructional notes; ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, Section I.A.12.a.

Code Overview

Neonatal cerebral leukomalacia is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (P91.2).

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 (2)

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

  • MCC as a secondary diagnosis (FY2027). Can raise the stay's MS-DRG severity tier.

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

MS-DRG Grouper Relationships (FY2027)

Potential MS-DRG participation — not a DRG assignment.

FY2027 MS-DRG: MCC — Major Complication or Comorbidity. Reported as a secondary diagnosis, this code raises the stay's MS-DRG severity tier — except when the principal diagnosis is one of 49 clinically related codes on its CMS exclusion list.

Named in the grouper logic of 5 MS-DRGs: DRG 091 (MDC 01), DRG 092 (MDC 01), DRG 093 (MDC 01), DRG 791 (MDC 15), DRG 793 (MDC 15).

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

Clinical classification (AHRQ CCSR):PNL004 — Neonatal cerebral 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 process (MS-DRG)

Acts as MCC — raises the severity of other admissions. CMS groups these diagnoses into one MS-DRG principal-diagnosis exclusion process — a CC/MCC on this list never raises severity when the principal diagnosis is also on it.

P60 — Disseminated intravascular coagulation of newborn, P61.0 — Transient neonatal thrombocytopenia, P61.1 — Polycythemia neonatorum, P61.2 — Anemia of prematurity, P61.3 — Congenital anemia from fetal blood loss, P61.4 — Other congenital anemias, not elsewhere classified, P61.5 — Transient neonatal neutropenia, P61.6 — Other transient neonatal disorders of coagulation, P61.8 — Other specified perinatal hematological disorders, P61.9 — Perinatal hematological disorder, unspecified, P94.1 — Congenital hypertonia, P94.2 — Congenital hypotonia, P94.8 — Other disorders of muscle tone of newborn, P94.9 — Disorder of muscle tone of newborn, unspecified, P96.0 — Congenital renal failure, P96.3 — Wide cranial sutures of newborn, P96.5 — Complication to newborn due to (fetal) intrauterine procedure, P96.82 — Delayed separation of umbilical cord, P96.83 — Meconium staining, P96.89 — Other specified conditions originating in the perinatal period, +28 more

Same CMS-HCC risk category (V28)

CMS maps these diagnoses to the same Hierarchical Condition Category (Coma, Brain Compression/Anoxic Damage) for risk-adjusted payment.

E03.5 — Myxedema coma, G93.1 — Anoxic brain damage, not elsewhere classified, G93.5 — Compression of brain, G93.6 — Cerebral edema, P91.0 — Neonatal cerebral ischemia, P91.1 — Acquired periventricular cysts of newborn, P91.3 — Neonatal cerebral irritability, P91.4 — Neonatal cerebral depression, P91.5 — Neonatal coma, P91.60 — Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy [HIE], unspecified, P91.61 — Mild hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy [HIE], P91.62 — Moderate hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy [HIE], P91.63 — Severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy [HIE], P91.811 — Neonatal encephalopathy in diseases classified elsewhere, P91.819 — Neonatal encephalopathy, unspecified, P91.88 — Other specified disturbances of cerebral status of newborn, P91.9 — Disturbance of cerebral status of newborn, unspecified, R40.20 — Unspecified coma, R40.2110 — Coma scale, eyes open, never, unspecified time, R40.2111 — Coma scale, eyes open, never, in the field [EMT or ambulance], +40 more

Related risk categories

These categories interact through CMS's HCC hierarchy — one can suppress the other's risk-adjustment weight when both are present on a claim.

Major Head Injury with Loss of Consciousness > 1 Hour, Major Head Injury with Loss of Consciousness < 1 Hour or Unspecified, Chronic Liver Failure/End-Stage Liver Disorders

Same clinical category (CCSR)

AHRQ's Clinical Classifications Software groups these diagnoses under the same clinical category (Neonatal cerebral disorders).

P90 — Convulsions of newborn, P91.0 — Neonatal cerebral ischemia, P91.1 — Acquired periventricular cysts of newborn, P91.3 — Neonatal cerebral irritability, P91.4 — Neonatal cerebral depression, P91.5 — Neonatal coma, P91.60 — Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy [HIE], unspecified, P91.61 — Mild hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy [HIE], P91.62 — Moderate hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy [HIE], P91.63 — Severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy [HIE], P91.8 — Other specified disturbances of cerebral status of newborn, P91.811 — Neonatal encephalopathy in diseases classified elsewhere, P91.819 — Neonatal encephalopathy, unspecified, P91.821 — Neonatal cerebral infarction, right side of brain, P91.822 — Neonatal cerebral infarction, left side of brain, P91.823 — Neonatal cerebral infarction, bilateral, P91.829 — Neonatal cerebral infarction, unspecified side, P91.88 — Other specified disturbances of cerebral status of newborn, P91.9 — Disturbance of cerebral status of newborn, unspecified

Contextual Map

Every relationship of P91.2 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.

Hierarchy

Clinical classification (CCSR)

Risk adjustment (CMS-HCC)

  • HCC 202 — Coma, Brain Compression/Anoxic Damage [CMS-HCC]— CMS-HCC V28 · 2026

MS-DRG Grouper

MDC crossing

  • MDC 01 — Diseases and Disorders of the Nervous System[MDC crossing]: “Diseases and Disorders of the Nervous 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. 8,919 same-MDC procedures group here; browse them on the MDC page.”— CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual · FY2027
  • MDC 15 — Newborns and Other Neonates with Conditions Originating in Perinatal Period[MDC crossing]: “Newborns and Other Neonates with Conditions Originating in Perinatal Period — 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.”— CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual · FY2027

Index entries

  • Leukomalacia, cerebral, newborn[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Leukomalacia, cerebral, newborn, periventricular[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026

Nearest codes (22)

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 FY2027 tabular list, index and tables, effective October 1, 2026 Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Claim edits Official source data
CMS Definitions of Medicare Code Edits — v44.0 (October 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 — v44 Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Risk adjustment Official source data
2026 Mid-Year Final ICD-10 Mappings + Model Software (cms.gov/files/zip/2026-midyear-final-icd-10-mappings.zip, 2026-midyear-final-model-software.zip) — CMS-HCC V28, PY2026 mid-year final release 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. "P91.2 — Neonatal cerebral leukomalacia." ICD-10-CM FY2027. https://medcoder.ai/icd10/code/p91.2-neonatal-cerebral-leukomalacia

Change history

  • FY2016 — October 1, 2015
    In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption
    Neonatal cerebral leukomalacia

No changes since FY2016 — additions, deletions, description changes and billable-status changes are tracked through FY2027, 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 P91.2 in its code family, with their registry titles.

View all codes in the P91 family