ICD-10 Code S75.092A: Femoral artery injury, left leg

Key takeaways

S75.092A is a billable FY2026 code for other specified injury of the femoral artery, left leg, initial encounter.

The 7th character carries the encounter type, where ‘A’ means initial, ‘D’ means subsequent, and ‘S’ means sequela.

Laterality is mandatory, so submitting the unspecified code S75.099A when the record names the left side invites a denial.

The parent code S75.092 is not billable on its own, because it carries no 7th character.

Practice management software like Pabau validates ICD-10 codes through its Claim.MD integration before a claim reaches the payer.

ICD-10 Code S75.092A is the billable code for other specified injury of the femoral artery, left leg, initial encounter. It applies when the record explicitly names the left femoral artery as the injured vessel.

The code also requires that this visit is the patient’s first encounter for that injury. An operative report, an emergency department note, or the attending physician’s documentation can each supply that detail.

The CMS ICD-10 codes page confirms the FY2026 edition took effect on October 1, 2025. S75.092A is billable and specific, so you can submit it without a more granular child code. From here, the reference covers the hierarchy, the 7th character, laterality, documentation, and the errors that trigger denials.

S75.092A code details at a glance

Here is the complete code descriptor that coders and billing teams need for quick reference. All values align with the CDC/NCHS ICD-10-CM web tool for FY2026.

ICD-10-CM code hierarchy and classification

S75.092A sits inside a precise breadcrumb structure in the ICD-10-CM injury chapter. Reading it from the top down explains why the code cannot be billed without a 7th character. Other hip and thigh trauma codes such as S72.345C follow the same descent from chapter to billable code.

The digit 2 in the sixth position encodes left-side laterality, which separates this code from S75.091A and S75.099A. The 7th character A then makes the code billable by naming the encounter type. Without it, S75.092 cannot be submitted for reimbursement. The breakdown below maps each character to what it encodes, and to the code you get if you change one.

How to choose the 7th character

Choose the 7th character from where the patient sits in the care episode. Visit count does not decide it. That makes it the most commonly misapplied element in Chapter 19 injury codes.

The AAPC ICD-10-CM coding reference notes that coders must reselect it at every encounter, not just the first. The same rule governs sibling codes such as S12.131D, where the D marks a later visit.

Key rule: initial encounter does not mean the patient’s first visit to any provider. It means the patient is still receiving active treatment for the injury.

Someone who sees a specialist two weeks after the trauma remains in the initial-encounter phase if treatment is ongoing. Once the injury has healed and only residual effects remain, sequela coding applies, as it does for S60.152S.

Laterality: Choosing between S75.092A, S75.091A, and S75.099A

Laterality is a non-negotiable documentation requirement here. Submitting an unspecified code when the record names a side is an error that payers flag during audit review. The three options for other specified femoral artery injury at an initial encounter are:

If an operative report describes the surgical site as left groin with repair of the femoral artery, S75.092A is correct. If the attending note says femoral artery injury without naming a side, query the provider.

Where that is impossible before submission, S75.099A is the only defensible choice. Querying always beats defaulting to unspecified.

Clinical context: What injuries does S75.092A cover?

S75.092A covers femoral artery injuries that the record describes specifically, but that do not match a named injury type inside the S75.0 subcategory. Other specified is a precise term in ICD-10-CM, not a catch-all.

Coders in trauma, vascular surgery, orthopedic, and sports medicine settings meet this category most often. Documentation in this group commonly describes:

• Left femoral artery contusion with arterial wall involvement
• Left femoral artery laceration, not otherwise specified
• Non-penetrating injury of the left femoral artery
• Left femoral artery injury from blunt trauma, specified but not a laceration
• Left femoral artery spasm or thrombosis secondary to a traumatic injury

What this code does not include: unspecified femoral artery injuries, right-leg injuries, and injuries to other hip and thigh vessels. Use S75.099A when no side is documented, and S75.091A for the right leg.

The femoral vein and great saphenous vein each sit in a different S75 subcategory. Fully described penetrating or laceration injuries may warrant S75.01 or S75.02 instead, depending on the depth of documentation.

What the record must document

Four elements decide whether S75.092A survives review. The record must name the femoral artery and state the left side. It also has to describe an injury type that reads as other specified, then confirm the encounter stage.

Medical billing compliance rules turn on exactly that specificity, so vascular trauma cases feel it quickly. Confirm all four before you apply the code:

1. Anatomical site: the record must explicitly name the femoral artery. Left groin vascular injury is not enough on its own.
2. Laterality: left must appear in the operative note, progress note, or imaging report. If only a nursing note carries it, query the attending before coding.
3. Injury type: the description has to qualify as other specified rather than a named laceration grade or an unspecified injury. The attending’s wording guides that call.
4. Encounter type: confirm whether this is initial active treatment, follow-up after healing has begun, or a visit for residual effects.

Structured SOAP note templates with fields for anatomical site, laterality, injury mechanism, and encounter stage cut the risk of an incomplete record. When those fields get populated at every visit, coders can apply S75.092A without another provider query.

Related ICD-10 codes: The S75 family

Knowing the surrounding family prevents miscoding and helps you report bilateral injuries or several damaged vessels accurately. The table below covers the siblings and neighbors coders reach for most. Digit-position conventions hold across injury categories, so S46.921A reads the same way in the shoulder and upper arm.

Chapter 19 rules and where S75 claims go wrong

The ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, Chapter 19, govern how S00-T88 injury codes are applied. Coders who work from code descriptions alone generate avoidable denials, which is where denial management starts costing time. Most S75 errors trace back to one of these five:

• Wrong 7th character after active treatment ends: billing S75.092A for wound-care follow-up after the repair is complete is an error. Once care shifts to monitoring or physical therapy, switch to S75.092D.
• Using unspecified when laterality is documented: submitting S75.099A when the operative note states left femoral artery is a mismatch. Post-payment audits recoup on exactly that.
• Omitting external cause codes: Chapter 19 requires an external cause code from V00-Y99 as a secondary diagnosis when the cause is known. A motor vehicle collision needs its V-code alongside S75.092A.
• Sequencing errors: with multiple injuries, the most severe one is sequenced as the principal diagnosis. The femoral artery injury may or may not hold that position.
• Confusing other specified with unspecified: other specified means the record describes the injury type, but no subcategory fits it. Unspecified means the record says nothing about injury type.

Each avoidable denial costs a rework cycle and delays payment by 30 to 60 days. Teams that treat revenue cycle management as part of coding, rather than a downstream problem, catch these before submission.

How Pabau supports accurate ICD-10 coding workflows

Practices handling vascular trauma face two jobs at once. They have to capture the clinical specificity S75.092A needs, and keep note-writing quick enough that providers actually finish it. Practice management software like Pabau handles both sides through its claims management software.

Pabau’s structured clinical note templates carry fields for anatomical site, laterality, injury description, and encounter stage. When a provider records left femoral artery, other specified injury, initial encounter, that structured data maps straight to the code. Nobody has to interpret free-text narrative after the fact, so provider queries drop and billing moves faster.

On the claims side, Pabau’s Claim.MD integration validates ICD-10 codes, applies payer-specific rules, and processes electronic remittance advice. That is where a missing laterality digit or the wrong 7th character gets caught.

Clean claim rules sit inside the same workflow, so a submission is checked before it leaves the practice. Teams new to medical billing gain the most, because the software encodes rules they would otherwise learn from denials.

Reduce claim rejections on vascular trauma codes

Pabau’s built-in ICD-10 code search and Claim.MD integration validate codes like S75.092A before submission. Laterality and encounter-type errors get caught before they reach the payer.

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Conclusion

S75.092A is a narrow code, and that is what makes it useful. Two characters carry the whole decision, so the work happens in the note rather than in the coding software. Get the left side and the encounter stage into the physician’s own words, and the code follows without a query.

The trade-off worth remembering is that S75.099A is always available and almost never right. Reaching for it saves a phone call today and invites a recoupment later. Book a demo to see how Pabau’s structured notes and Claim.MD validation keep S75 claims clean on the first pass.

Continue your research

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Frequently asked questions

Documentation and validity