C Diff ICD-10-CM Codes | 2023
Read this short guide to learn about C Diff ICD codes you can use!
Fact Checked by Ericka Pingol.
What C Diff ICD-10 codes can I use?
If you’re looking for C Diff ICD codes, you’ll need to make slight adjustments to your search term because there are no ICD-10 codes that mention C Diff in their names. Instead, the codes you’re looking for use C Diff’s full name, Clostridium difficile.
There are only three ICD-10 codes you can use for C Diff-related reasons, two of which mention Clostridium difficile in their names:
- A04.71 - Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile, recurrent
This ICD-10 code is meant to be used on a patient confirmed to have Enterocolitis due to a Clostridium difficile infection, and this condition reoccurs now and then.
- A04.72 - Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile, not specified as recurrent
This is the same as Item 1 but the Enterocolitis is not identified as recurrent.
- A48.8 - Other specified bacterial diseases
This ICD-10 code is meant to be used on a patient confirmed to have bacterial diseases that don’t have specific ICD-10 codes. If your patient is dealing with a disease caused by Clostridium difficile that isn’t Enterocolitis, you can use this ICD-10 code.
Are these C Diff ICD-10 codes billable?
Yes. All three of these ICD-10 codes for C Diff are valid and billable.
Clinical information about C Diff:
Clostridium difficile, or C. Diff for short, is a type of bacteria that can infect people and cause problems in the colon, like diarrhea and inflammation.
If Clostridium difficile infections aren’t checked and treated as soon as possible, it can cause life-threatening damage to the colon.
This bacteria can be found in the colon. Given that statement, you’re probably wondering how this bacteria is problematic if it’s already in the colon. This type of bacteria usually shouldn’t cause problems. Still, if a person takes enough antibiotics to the point that healthy gut bacteria are killed off, C. diff will multiply and produce toxins, thus leading to C. diff infection.
Synonyms include:
- Clostridioides difficile infection
- Intestinal infection caused by Clostridioides difficile
- Recurrent Clostridium difficile infection
- Clostridium difficile colitis
- Clostridium difficile diarrhea
- Clostridium difficile food poisoning
- Toxic megacolon due to Clostridium difficile infection
- Extraintestinal infection caused by Clostridioides difficile
- ICD 10 C diff
- C diff colitis ICD 10
- C diff ICD 10
- C-diff ICD 10
- History of C diff ICD 10
Commonly asked questions
A person with a C Diff Infection will likely have the following symptoms:
- Diarrhea
- Abdominal pain
- Nausea
- Fever
- Cramps
- Loss of appetite
They will conduct a stool test to check for the presence of C Diff or its toxins in the stool. They might also conduct histopathologies and colonoscopy.
Pseudomembranous colitis is another kind of colitis characterized by the inflammation of the colon’s pseudomembranes. This is a life-threatening condition.
