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Y93.85 ICD-10-CM Code: Activity, choking game

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

Coding at a Glance

Tabular directives
3 inclusion terms

Coding instructions

Official Tabular Instructional Notes: the inclusion, exclusion and sequencing notes published for Y93.85 in the official ICD-10-CM tabular list, quoted as published.

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

Inclusion Terms

Alternative terms the tabular list files under this code.

  • Activity, blackout game
  • Activity, fainting game
  • Activity, pass out game

Coder workflow for Y93.85

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

Before you code Y93.85

  1. An external cause code is reported in addition to the code for the injury or condition, never as the principal or first-listed diagnosis. Confirm the cause, intent, place of occurrence, activity and status where the record documents them, and assign the 7th character that matches the injury code. External cause coding guidelines (Guidelines I.C.20.a).

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).

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

Activity, choking game is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (Y93.85).

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

Indexed As (4)

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

Circumstance phrases from the official ICD-10-CM External Cause of Injuries Index that map to this code.

  • Activity (involving) (of victim at time of event), blackout game
  • Activity (involving) (of victim at time of event), choking game
  • Activity (involving) (of victim at time of event), fainting game
  • Activity (involving) (of victim at time of event), pass out game

Official Coding Guidelines

Official source data — quoted verbatim from the CMS/NCHS Official Guidelines

Official source data — quoted verbatim from the CMS/NCHS Official Guidelines

Verbatim excerpts from the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting (CMS/NCHS) that govern this code.

Chapter 20: External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99)

c. Activity Code Assign a code from category Y93, Activity code, to describe the activity of the patient at the time the injury or other health condition occurred.

Chapter 20: External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99)

An activity code is used only once, at the initial encounter for treatment. Only one code from Y93 should be recorded on a medical record.

Chapter 20: External Causes of Morbidity (V00-Y99)

A code from category Y93 is appropriate for use with external cause and intent codes if identifying the activity provides additional information about the event.

Verify Before Coding

  • Principal-diagnosis restriction. External cause of morbidity codes (V, W, X and Y) describe the circumstance that caused an injury, not the condition treated. The Medicare Code Editor rejects them as a principal diagnosis; sequence the injury or condition first and report this code as secondary.

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 Y93.85 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 2 Use Additional Code instructions across 2 chapters: M70 — Soft tissue disorders related to use, overuse and pressure (via Y93.-), V00 — Pedestrian conveyance accident (via Y93.-).

These codes instruct coders to additionally report this code when it applies.

Clinical classification (AHRQ CCSR):EXT026 — External cause codes: activity codes.

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 (External cause codes: activity codes).

Y93.71 — Activity, boxing, Y93.72 — Activity, wrestling, Y93.73 — Activity, racquet and hand sports, Y93.74 — Activity, frisbee, Y93.75 — Activity, martial arts, Y93.79 — Activity, other specified sports and athletics, Y93.81 — Activity, refereeing a sports activity, Y93.82 — Activity, spectator at an event, Y93.83 — Activity, rough housing and horseplay, Y93.84 — Activity, sleeping, Y93.89 — Activity, other specified, Y93.9 — Activity, unspecified, Y93.A1 — Activity, exercise machines primarily for cardiorespiratory conditioning, Y93.A2 — Activity, calisthenics, Y93.A3 — Activity, aerobic and step exercise, Y93.A4 — Activity, circuit training, Y93.A5 — Activity, obstacle course, Y93.A6 — Activity, grass drills, Y93.A9 — Activity, other involving cardiorespiratory exercise, Y93.B1 — Activity, exercise machines primarily for muscle strengthening, +93 more

Contextual Map

Every relationship of Y93.85 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 Y93.85 with these 2 related codes in Claim Check

Hierarchy

Referenced by Use Additional Code instructions

Clinical classification (CCSR)

External cause index

  • Activity (involving) (of victim at time of event), blackout game[External cause term]— CMS External Cause of Injuries Index · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Activity (involving) (of victim at time of event), choking game[External cause term]— CMS External Cause of Injuries Index · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Activity (involving) (of victim at time of event), fainting game[External cause term]— CMS External Cause of Injuries Index · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Activity (involving) (of victim at time of event), pass out game[External cause term]— CMS External Cause of Injuries Index · icd10cm-fy2026

Nearest codes (40)

Change history

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
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

Change history

  • FY2017 — October 1, 2016
    Added to the code set
    Activity, choking game
    FY2017 changes

Nearest Codes in This Family

Official ICD-10-CM classifications closest to Y93.85 in its code family, with their registry titles.

View all codes in the Y93 family