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K21.9

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Gastro-esophageal reflux disease without esophagitis

Filed alongside this entry 4

under Reflux

Index entries, exactly as the book files them. This says they are listed together — not that any of them is documented in your chart.

Billable FY2027 2026-10-01 → 2027-09-30
How to use this page

Everything the published sources say about one code, on one page.

  1. Read the Excludes1 block first — it is the one that stops you coding this at all alongside another code.
  2. Excludes2, Code first, Use additional and Includes follow. A note inherited from a parent category is labelled with the category it came from, so you can see why it applies.
  3. Official Guidelines sit below. "Guidelines naming this code" cite the code or a range containing it; "Chapter guidance" is the general guidance for its chapter and is the weaker signal.
  4. Guideline text is quoted verbatim with its section number and page, so you can check it against the published document.
  5. Risk-model chips show which published CMS models map this code.

What this page does not do

  • Guidance is quoted, never paraphrased — a paraphrase of a coding rule is a different rule.
  • Medication candidates, where shown, are matched by condition *name* and are offered as candidates for you to judge. They are not "the drugs for this code".

All page guides →

Exclusions10never code together
K21code
Excludes1
  • newborn esophageal reflux (P78.83)P78.83
K20-K31block
Excludes2
  • hiatus hernia (K44.-)K44.-
K00-K95chapter
Excludes2
  • certain conditions originating in the perinatal period (P04-P96)P04-P96
  • certain infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99)A00-B99
  • complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O9A)O00-O9A
  • congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00-Q99)Q00-Q99
  • endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E88)E00-E88
  • injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00-T88)S00-T88
  • neoplasms (C00-D49)C00-D49
  • symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R94)R00-R94

Excludes1 — never code together. The excluded condition and this one are mutually exclusive.

Excludes2 — not included here, but the patient may have both. Code both when documented.

Instructional notes1
K21.9code
Inclusion terms
  • Esophageal reflux NOS
Official Guidelines1names this code

ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, quoted in full. Published by CMS and NCHS; in the public domain.

I.C.11 Chapter 11: Diseases of the Digestive System (K00-K95) names this code p.58

Reserved for future guideline expansion

Index entries leading here7
  • Reflux K21.9
  • Allergy, allergic (reaction) (to) T78.40
  • Cardiochalasia K21.9
  • Relaxation
  • Chalasia (cardiac sphincter) K21.9
  • Disease, diseased — see also Syndrome
    • gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) K21.9
  • GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) K21.9
Alongside this code1same parent — K21
Medications1

MED-RT files conditions by MeSH, which carves the world differently from ICD-10. These are name matches on this code's description, offered as candidates — not as an assertion that they are this code.

Additional references
AHA Coding Clinic® Licence required

Official coding advice for this code. Published by the American Hospital Association. Not included in this installation.

Risk adjustment

Maps to no condition category in any loaded model.

Presence is a property of the code. Untick a model to hide it everywhere.

This code

Billable
yes
Code set
FY2027
Parent
K21
Block
K20-K31
Siblings
1

Present FY2018–FY2027.