Excludes1 pair

K11.8 vs M35-

K11.8 and M35 are not coded together. ICD-10-CM declares them mutually exclusive with an Excludes1 note — the two conditions are not expected to occur together, so exactly one of them is normally correct for a given encounter. The Official Guidelines carve out one exception: if the two conditions are clearly unrelated to each other, both may be reported.

The official note, declared on K11.8
Sjögren syndrome (M35.0-)
K11.8

Other diseases of salivary glands

Billable
Chapter 11
Diseases of the digestive system
Section
K00-K14
Use when the record says
  • Benign lymphoepithelial lesion of salivary gland
  • Mikulicz' disease
  • Necrotizing sialometaplasia
  • Sialectasia
  • Stenosis of salivary duct
  • Stricture of salivary duct
Indexed under
  • Mikulicz' disease or syndrome
  • Pneumoparotid
  • Sialectasia
  • Sialometaplasia, necrotizing
  • Cyst › ranular
M35

Other systemic involvement of connective tissue

Not billable
Chapter 13
Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue
Section
M30-M36

These two codes sit in different chapters of the Tabular List, which is usually the clearest signal that they describe different underlying processes rather than different degrees of the same one.

Excludes1 is not always absolute: where two conditions covered by the note are genuinely unrelated, CMS guidance permits reporting both. Document the reasoning rather than assuming it. More on Excludes1 vs Excludes2 · FY2027