Acute Bronchitis ICD-10-CM codes

J20.9 (acute bronchitis, unspecified) is the default and covers acute bronchitis with bronchospasm or tracheobronchitis. When the organism is documented, use the specific code: J20.0 Mycoplasma pneumoniae, J20.5 respiratory syncytial virus, J20.8 other specified organisms (add a B95 to B97 code when the organism has no dedicated fourth character). Bronchitis documented without acute or chronic is J40, which J20 excludes.

Bronchiolitis in infants and young children is J21: J21.0 for RSV and J21.9 when the organism is unknown. J22 is reserved for an unspecified acute lower respiratory infection when the provider does not name bronchitis, bronchiolitis, or pneumonia.

Acute bronchitis in a patient with COPD is not J20 alone. Assign J44.0 (COPD with acute lower respiratory infection) together with the J20 code for the bronchitis. Chronic bronchitis is J41.0 (simple), J41.1 (mucopurulent), or J42 (unspecified), and smoker's cough is classified to J41.0 rather than R05.

Cough codes in R05 (R05.1 acute, R05.2 subacute, R05.3 chronic, R05.9 unspecified) are symptom codes. Do not report them when bronchitis explains the cough. R05.3 is appropriate for a chronic cough of eight weeks or longer when the workup has not established a cause.