FY2027
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Excludes1 pair

R68.0 vs T68-

R68.0 and T68 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 R68.0
hypothermia NOS (accidental) (T68)
R68.0

Hypothermia, not associated with low environmental temperature

Billable
Chapter 18
Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified
Section
R50-R69
Indexed under
  • Hypopyrexia
  • Hypothermia › not associated with low environmental temperature
T68

Hypothermia

Not billable
Chapter 19
Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes
Section
T66-T78
Use when the record says
  • Accidental hypothermia
  • Hypothermia NOS
Indexed under
  • Hypothermia (accidental)
  • Hypothermia › low environmental temperature
  • Subnormal, subnormality › temperature (accidental)

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