If you’re a diabetes mellitus type 2 patient wondering what some codes mean on your charts and medical records, or if you’re trying to learn diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10, here are some nuances you’ll be interested in.

Diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10 is a medical coding system that can be tricky because of the subtle differences in the designated codes. These nuances give the information on your medical charts both more detail and more room for interpretation error. But if you’re inputting these codes into patients’ medical charts, not knowing these nuances can give the attending physician an inaccurate snapshot of the patients’ medical history.

Here are a few notable nuances between these similar diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10 codes:

1. Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 ICD 10: E11.620, E11.622, E11.628

If your diabetes mellitus is causing a skin condition, you may see diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10 code E11.620, E11.622, or E11.628 on your chart. Even though their descriptions overlap, all three are surprisingly specifically different.

E11.620 stands for a diabetes mellitus type 2 diagnosis with diabetic dermatitis, which means skin inflammation caused by diabetes mellitus type 2. Although skin ulcers and shin spots technically fall within the wide-reaching spectrum of dermatitis, it would be wrong to use this code for either of these skin conditions caused by diabetes mellitus type 2.

If skin ulcers arise from diabetes mellitus complications, E11.622 is the specific diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10 code for it. It’s exclusive for skin ulcers and no other dermatological complications arising from diabetes mellitus type 2.

On the other hand, diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10 code E11.628 is designated exclusively for special dermatological diabetes mellitus type 2 complications, like skin tags, shin spots, skin fungal infections, and other specific conditions.

Be careful when simply slapping on E11.620 when a patient comes in with a dermatological condition arising from diabetes mellitus type 2 because you might be grossly misrepresenting the diagnosis.




2. Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 ICD 10: E11.21, E11.22, E11.29

If you’re developing kidney damage because of your diabetes mellitus type 2, you’re likely to see one of these three diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10 codes in your chart: E11.21, E11.22, E11.29.

Nephropathy is another blanket condition that means kidney damage or disease. E11.21 stands for nephropathy caused by diabetes mellitus type 2. E11.21 also specifically applies to intercapillary glomerulosclerosis, intracapillary glomerulosclerosis, Kimmelstiel-Wilson disease, persistent proteinuria, and other kidney conditions.

But don’t be quick to assume this diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10 code is used for all kidney conditions caused by diabetes mellitus type 2. If you’re suffering from long-term kidney disease, which means it’s been going on for longer than a month, E11.22 is used. It’s specific for chronic kidney disease caused by diabetes mellitus type 2.

E11.29 also complicates E11.21. It’s designated for renal tubular degeneration caused by diabetes mellitus type 2 and other specific kidney conditions. The nature of E11.29 is to cover kidney disease complications rather than the actual diseases.

If you’re placing these diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10 codes on the chart of a patient suffering from a kidney condition caused diabetes mellitus type 2, then a good rule of thumb is to use E11.22 for long-term kidney diseases caused by diabetes mellitus type 2, unless they’re specific diseases covered by E11.21. But if the kidney disease has caused a specific renal complication, then you’re most likely going to want to veer toward E11.29. Any other nephropathy is covered by E11.21.

These are just a few nuances in the diabetes mellitus type 2 ICD 10 coding system! At least now you’ll know and appreciate the detail in your medical charts. But if you’re coding patient charts, you must be cautious of these nuances so that you don’t end up giving the attending physician the wrong information about the patients she’s about to see.