R68.0 vs T68
R68.0 and T68 can never be reported together. ICD-10-CM declares them mutually exclusive with an Excludes1 note, meaning the two conditions cannot occur in the same patient — so exactly one of them is correct for any given encounter.
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 (accidental)
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 (accidental)
- Subnormal, subnormality › temperature
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