Chapter 20 guidelines
External causes of morbidity
V00-Y99
Covers external causes of morbidity — how, where, and under what circumstances an injury or condition occurred. These codes are never used as a principal/first-listed diagnosis.
Key coding points
- •External cause codes supplement a chapter 19 (or other) injury code — they describe the cause, place, and activity, not the injury itself.
- •As many external cause codes as needed may be assigned to fully describe the cause, intent, place, and activity of the encounter.