2027 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code Z74.1Need for assistance with personal care
Z74.1 is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for need for assistance with personal care. It is valid on HIPAA claims for fiscal year 2027 (October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027) and groups to MS-DRG 951. The code is not accepted as a principal diagnosis by the Medicare Code Editor. In AHRQ's Clinical Classifications Software (CCSR), this diagnosis falls under Other specified status.
Code Identity
Code Classification
Code EditsBilling
Medicare Code Editor checks that affect claim validity for Z74.1.
Approximate SynonymsGuidance
Alternate terms and clinical phrases that map to this code.
- Able to use toilet
- Able to use toilet with assistance
- Assistance required to brush own teeth
- Assistance required to clean own dentures
- Bathing assisted
- Bathing disability
- Cared for by family
- Cared for by night nurse
- Cared for by partner
- Cared for by spouse
- Caregiver not readily available
- Complex care needs
- Continence
- Continence assisted
- Continence dependent
- Co-operates with dressing
- Dependence on health care provider for personal health care
- Dependent for bathing
- Dependent for dressing
- Dependent for personal grooming
- Dependent for personal hygiene activity
- Dependent for sitting
- Dependent for sitting down
- Dependent for standing
- Dependent for standing up
- Dependent in toilet
- Difficulty applying own make-up
- Difficulty cutting own fingernails
- Difficulty cutting own nails
- Difficulty cutting own toenails
- Difficulty managing incontinence appliance
- Difficulty managing nephrostomy care
- Difficulty managing stoma care
- Difficulty managing urinary catheter
- Difficulty performing hair care activities
- Difficulty performing nail care activities
- Difficulty performing personal grooming activity
- Difficulty putting on own wig
- Difficulty shaving
- Difficulty using toiletries
- Difficulty washing own hair
- District nurse attends
- Does not have caregiver
- Does not perform personal grooming activity
- Domiciliary services
- Dressing-grooming self-care deficit
- Finding of availability of informal caregiver
- Finding related to ability to apply own make-up
- Finding related to ability to bath self
- Finding related to ability to clean own dentures
- Finding related to ability to clean own teeth
- Finding related to ability to cut own fingernails
- Finding related to ability to cut own toenails
- Finding related to ability to put on own wig
- Finding related to ability to shave
- Finding related to ability to wash own hair
- Finding related to provision of home help
- Helps with dressing
- Home help attends
- Need for personal care assistance
- Needs assistance with shaving
- Needs help in toilet
- Needs help with dressing
- Needs help with managing medication
- Needs help with performing mouthcare activities
- Needs help with personal grooming
- Needs help with washing self
- Needs maximal assistance
- Needs moderate assistance
- No caregiver though not alone
- No help available
- No help available from lay caregiver
- Nursing assistance required
- Patient dependence on care provider
- Personal care disability
- Personal care handicap
- Personal care impairment
- Personal hygiene finding
- Relatives involved with care
- Requires assistance with all daily activities
- Self-bathing/hygiene deficit
- Toilet dependency
- Unable to apply own make-up
- Unable to cut own fingernails
- Unable to cut own nails
- Unable to cut own toenails
- Unable to perform haircare activities
- Unable to perform nail care activities
- Unable to perform personal care activity
- Unable to perform personal grooming activity
- Unable to put on own wig
- Unable to shave
- Unable to use toiletries
- Unable to wash own hair
Instructional NotesGuidance
Instructions from the official ICD-10-CM Tabular List that apply to Z74.1: its own notes plus those printed at Z74 and Chapter 21. A note printed at a category, block or chapter applies to every code under it.
Excludes2
Not included here: the excluded condition is not part of this code, but a patient may have both, so both codes may be reported.
Notes
General instructions on how these codes are used.
- Z codes represent reasons for encounters. A corresponding procedure code must accompany a Z code if a procedure is performed. Categories Z00-Z99 are provided for occasions when circumstances other than a disease, injury or external cause classifiable to categories A00-Y89 are recorded as 'diagnoses' or 'problems'. This can arise in two main ways:
- (a) When a person who may or may not be sick encounters the health services for some specific purpose, such as to receive limited care or service for a current condition, to donate an organ or tissue, to receive prophylactic vaccination (immunization), or to discuss a problem which is in itself not a disease or injury.
- (b) When some circumstance or problem is present which influences the person's health status but is not in itself a current illness or injury.
Source: CMS ICD-10-CM Tabular List. How to read instructional notes.
Referenced in Other NotesGuidance
Instructional notes printed at other codes that name Z74.1, its category, or a range that includes it.
Index to Diseases and InjuriesGuidance
Alphabetical index entries that point to this code.
Clinical ClassificationClinical
AHRQ’s CCSR groups this code into broader clinical categories.
Patient EducationClinical
Home Care Services
Home care is care that allows a person with special needs to stay in their home. It might be for people who are getting older (aging in place). It could also be for people who are chronically ill, recovering from surgery, or have a disability. Home care services include:
Read the full article at MedlinePlus
Courtesy of MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Convert Z74.1 to ICD-9-CMHistory
The closest ICD-9-CM equivalents under the General Equivalence Mappings.
Code HistoryHistory
Questions About Z74.1Overview
What is the ICD-10 code for need for assistance with personal care?
The ICD-10-CM code for need for assistance with personal care is Z74.1 (sometimes written as Z741). It is billable on HIPAA-covered claims from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.
Is Z74.1 (Problems related to care provider dependency) a billable code?
Yes. This is a billable ICD-10-CM code, specific enough to report need for assistance with personal care on HIPAA-covered claims from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.
What MS-DRG does Z74.1 group to?
On inpatient claims, need for assistance with personal care maps to MS-DRG 951 (other Factors Influencing Health Status), which carries a relative weight of 0.5574. Higher weights mean higher Medicare reimbursement.
Can Z74.1 be a principal diagnosis?
No. The Medicare Code Editor rejects this code as a principal diagnosis because need for assistance with personal care describes a circumstance that influences health status rather than a current illness. Report it as a secondary diagnosis.
What is the ICD-9 equivalent of Z74.1?
Under the General Equivalence Mappings, need for assistance with personal care converts to ICD-9-CM V60.89 (housing/econo circum NEC). The mapping is approximate, so confirm the match fits the documentation.
