POA Exempt: Retained foreign body fragments (Z18) ICD-10-CM
The 14 ICD-10-CM codes in this range are exempt from Present on Admission reporting for fiscal year 2026. Hospitals assign no POA indicator for them on inpatient claims: the codes describe circumstances, such as pre-existing conditions or the cause of an injury, where asking whether the condition was present at admission adds no information.
Exempt Codes in This Range 14 codes · 1 category
Z18 Retained foreign body fragments14 codes
- Z18.01 Retained depleted uranium fragments
- Z18.09 Other retained radioactive fragments
- Z18.10 Retained metal fragments, unspecified
- Z18.11 Retained magnetic metal fragments
- Z18.12 Retained nonmagnetic metal fragments
- Z18.2 Retained plastic fragments
- Z18.31 Retained animal quills or spines
- Z18.32 Retained tooth
- Z18.33 Retained wood fragments
- Z18.39 Other retained organic fragments
- Z18.81 Retained glass fragments
- Z18.83 Retained stone or crystalline fragments
- Z18.89 Other specified retained foreign body fragments
- Z18.9 Retained foreign body fragments, unspecified material
Questions About This Category
Why are these codes POA exempt?
The codes for retained foreign body fragments describe circumstances where the Present on Admission question has no meaning, so CMS exempts them from the indicator. The exemption is published in the official FY 2026 CMS exempt file.
How many codes in this range are exempt?
The FY 2026 exempt list contains 14 codes in this range, effective October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026.
Are these codes billable?
The exemption only removes the POA indicator requirement, it does not change how a code is used on claims. Billable status is shown per code: blue codes are billable, and any codes shown in the amber tone are category headers that need more characters.
More POA Exempt Categories
Source: CMS FY 2026 ICD-10-CM POA exempt file, effective October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. See also the Medicare Code Edits and the MS-DRG list.
