2025 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code R50.81
Fever presenting with conditions classified elsewhere
- ICD-10-CM Code:
- R50.81
- ICD-10 Code for:
- Fever presenting with conditions classified elsewhere
- Is Billable?
- Yes - Valid for Submission
- Chronic Condition Indicator: [1]
- Not chronic
- Code Navigator:
R50.81 is a billable diagnosis code used to specify a medical diagnosis of fever presenting with conditions classified elsewhere. The code is valid during the current fiscal year for the submission of HIPAA-covered transactions from October 01, 2024 through September 30, 2025.
According to ICD-10-CM guidelines this code should not to be used as a principal diagnosis code when a related definitive diagnosis has been established.
Approximate Synonyms
The following list of clinical terms are approximate synonyms, alternative descriptions, or common phrases that might be used by patients, healthcare providers, or medical coders to describe the same condition. These synonyms and related diagnosis terms are often used when searching for an ICD-10 code, especially when the exact medical terminology is unclear. Whether you're looking for lay terms, similar diagnosis names, or common language alternatives, this list can help guide you to the correct ICD-10 classification.
- Acute hepatic failure
- Anasarca
- Brass-founders' fever
- Copper fever
- COVID-19
- Double quotidien fever
- Febrile granulocytopenia
- Febrile leukopenia
- Febrile leukopenia
- Febrile neutropenia
- Fever caused by SARS-CoV-2
- Fever-associated acute infantile liver failure syndrome
- Granulocytopenic disorder
- Intermittent fever
- Intermittent fever
- Intermittent fever
- Intermittent fever
- Intermittent fever
- Intermittent fever
- Intermittent fever
- Intermittent hepatic fever
- Malarial fever
- Malarial fever
- Malarial fever
- Malarial fever
- Malarial fever
- Malarial fever
- Malignant tertian fever
- Metal fever
- Metal fever
- Paraneoplastic fever
- Polymer fume fever
- Quartan fever
- Quotidien fever
- TAFRO syndrome
- Tertian fever
- Tertian fever
- Toxic inhalation-induced febrile illness
- Toxic inhalation-induced febrile illness
- Toxic inhalation-induced febrile illness
Clinical Classification
Clinical Classifications group individual ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes into broader, clinically meaningful categories. These categories help simplify complex data by organizing related conditions under common clinical themes.
They are especially useful for data analysis, reporting, and clinical decision-making. Even when diagnosis codes differ, similar conditions can be grouped together based on their clinical relevance. Each category is assigned a unique CCSR code that represents a specific clinical concept, often tied to a body system or medical specialty.
Fever
CCSR Code: SYM002
Inpatient Default: X - Not applicable.
Outpatient Default: X - Not applicable.
Clinical Information
Chemotherapy-Induced Febrile Neutropenia
fever accompanied by a significant reduction in neutrophil count associated with chemotherapy.Febrile Neutropenia
fever accompanied by a significant reduction in the number of neutrophils.Neutrophils
granular leukocytes having a nucleus with three to five lobes connected by slender threads of chromatin, and cytoplasm containing fine inconspicuous granules and stainable by neutral dyes.Anasarca
a condition that is characterized by the presence of generalized edema. causes include congestive heart failure, liver failure, renal failure, and severe malnutrition.
Tabular List of Diseases and Injuries
The following annotation back-references are applicable to this diagnosis code. The Tabular List of Diseases and Injuries is a list of ICD-10-CM codes, organized "head to toe" into chapters and sections with coding notes and guidance for inclusions, exclusions, descriptions and more.
Code First
Code FirstCertain conditions have both an underlying etiology and multiple body system manifestations due to the underlying etiology. For such conditions, the ICD-10-CM has a coding convention that requires the underlying condition be sequenced first followed by the manifestation. Wherever such a combination exists, there is a "use additional code" note at the etiology code, and a "code first" note at the manifestation code. These instructional notes indicate the proper sequencing order of the codes, etiology followed by manifestation.
Index to Diseases and Injuries References
The following annotation back-references for this diagnosis code are found in the injuries and diseases index. The Index to Diseases and Injuries is an alphabetical listing of medical terms, with each term mapped to one or more ICD-10-CM code(s).
Code Edits
The Medicare Code Editor (MCE) detects errors and inconsistencies in ICD-10-CM diagnosis coding that can affect Medicare claim validity. These Medicare code edits help medical coders and billing professionals determine when a diagnosis code is not appropriate as a principal diagnosis, does not meet coverage criteria. Use this list to verify whether a code is valid for Medicare billing and to avoid claim rejections or denials due to diagnosis coding issues.
Manifestation diagnoses
Manifestation codes describe the manifestation of an underlying disease, not the disease itself, and therefore should not be used as a principal diagnosis.
Convert R50.81 to ICD-9-CM
Below are the ICD-9 codes that most closely match this ICD-10 code, based on the General Equivalence Mappings (GEMs). This ICD-10 to ICD-9 crosswalk tool is helpful for coders who need to reference legacy diagnosis codes for audits, historical claims, or approximate code comparisons.
Fever in other diseases
ICD-9-CM: 780.61
This is a direct match with no additional mapping qualifiers. The absence of a flag generally means the mapping is considered exact or precise. In other words, the ICD-10 code maps cleanly to the ICD-9 code without qualification, approximation, or needing multiple codes.
Patient Education
Fever
A fever is a body temperature that is higher than normal. A normal temperature can vary from person to person, but it is usually around 98.6 °F (37 °C). A fever is not a disease. It is usually a sign that your body is trying to fight an illness or infection.
Infections cause most fevers. You get a fever because your body is trying to kill the virus or bacteria that caused the infection. Most of those bacteria and viruses do well when your body is at your normal temperature. But if you have a fever, it is harder for them to survive. Fever also activates your body's immune system.
Other causes of fevers include:
- Medicines, including some antibiotics, blood pressure medicines, and anti-seizure medicines
- Heat illness
- Cancers
- Autoimmune diseases
- Some childhood vaccines
Treatment depends on the cause of your fever. If the fever is very high, your health care provider may recommend taking an over-the-counter medicine such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Adults can also take aspirin, but children with fevers should not take aspirin. It is also important to drink enough liquids, to prevent dehydration.
[Learn More in MedlinePlus]
Code History
- FY 2024 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2023 through 9/30/2024
- FY 2023 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2022 through 9/30/2023
- FY 2022 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2021 through 9/30/2022
- FY 2021 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2020 through 9/30/2021
- FY 2020 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2019 through 9/30/2020
- FY 2019 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2018 through 9/30/2019
- FY 2018 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2017 through 9/30/2018
- FY 2017 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2016 through 9/30/2017
- FY 2016 - New Code, effective from 10/1/2015 through 9/30/2016. This was the first year ICD-10-CM was implemented into the HIPAA code set.
Footnotes
[1] Not chronic - A diagnosis code that does not fit the criteria for chronic condition (duration, ongoing medical treatment, and limitations) is considered not chronic. Some codes designated as not chronic are acute conditions. Other diagnosis codes that indicate a possible chronic condition, but for which the duration of the illness is not specified in the code description (i.e., we do not know the condition has lasted 12 months or longer) also are considered not chronic.
