Iron Deficiency Anemia ICD-10-CM codes

D50.9 (iron deficiency anemia, unspecified) is the default when the provider documents iron deficiency anemia without a cause. D50.0 is iron deficiency anemia secondary to chronic blood loss and requires the provider to link the anemia to a bleeding source such as menorrhagia or gastrointestinal bleeding; code the source (for example K92.2 or N92.0) as well. D50.8 covers other iron deficiency anemias, including dietary iron deficiency anemia, and D50.1 is sideropenic dysphagia (Plummer-Vinson syndrome).

Iron deficiency without anemia is a different diagnosis coded to E61.1 in chapter 4, not to D50. A low ferritin with a normal hemoglobin does not support D50.9. Likewise, D62 (acute posthemorrhagic anemia) describes anemia from acute bleeding and must be documented by the provider; it should not be inferred from a postoperative hemoglobin drop, and it is not a complication code, so it does not require a surgical complication code unless the provider documents the bleeding as a complication.

Anemia caused by another chronic condition is coded to D63 with the underlying condition sequenced first: D63.0 anemia in neoplastic disease, D63.1 anemia in chronic kidney disease (with N18.- first), and D63.8 anemia in other chronic diseases. Anemia caused by chemotherapy is D64.81 with T45.1X5- for the adverse effect, and is distinct from D63.0. When a patient has both iron deficiency and chronic disease anemia documented, both D50.- and the D63 code may be assigned.