Z00.121Encounter for routine child health examination with abnormal findings

Z00.121 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for encounter for routine child health examination with abnormal findings. It belongs to category Z00 (encounter for general examination without complaint, suspected or reported diagnosis), block Z00-Z13 (persons encountering health services for examinations) and chapter 21 (factors influencing health status and contact with health services). It is billable, so it can be reported on its own for dates of service from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.

Within Z00.12 (encounter for routine child health examination), Z00.121 is specifically for encounter for routine child health examination with abnormal findings. Related codes cover without abnormal findings (Z00.129).

Use an additional code to identify abnormal findings.

It is not a CC or MCC, so as a secondary diagnosis it doesn't change the MS-DRG severity level.

In MS-DRG v44.0, it is part of the grouping logic for DRG 795 (Normal Newborn, relative weight 0.2022) and DRG 951 (Other Factors Influencing Health Status, relative weight 0.5577), in MDC 15 (Newborns and Other Neonates with Conditions Originating in the Perinatal Period) and MDC 23 (Factors Influencing Health Status and Other Contacts with Health Services), as a principal or secondary diagnosis. The DRG a claim lands in depends on the principal diagnosis, procedures and any CC/MCC secondary diagnoses.

The Medicare Code Editor expects this diagnosis only for patients age 0 through 17; other ages trigger an age-conflict edit.

It is not acceptable as the principal diagnosis for an inpatient stay; it may be reported as a secondary diagnosis.

It is exempt from present-on-admission (POA) reporting, so no POA indicator is required.

It has been part of ICD-10-CM since the code set took effect on October 1, 2015 and hasn't changed since.

Before ICD-10, this condition was coded in ICD-9-CM as V20.2 (routine infant or child health check).