ICD code S92.215G – Nondisplaced fracture of cuboid bone of left foot

Key takeaways

S92.215G is a billable ICD-10-CM code for a nondisplaced left cuboid fracture with delayed healing. It has been valid since October 1, 2025.

The 7th character G says the fracture is healing slowly at a follow-up visit. Use D for routine healing and K for a confirmed nonunion.

The direct parent is S92.21, fracture of cuboid bone, which sits under S92.2 for other and unspecified tarsal bones.

Laterality and displacement both have to be documented, because a displaced left cuboid fracture is S92.212G rather than S92.215G.

Practice management software like Pabau pre-fills the claim from the patient record and checks required fields before submission, so fewer claims come back.

What S92.215G means, and when you can bill it

S92.215G describes a nondisplaced fracture of the cuboid bone of the left foot at a subsequent encounter, with the fracture healing slowly.

The CDC/NCHS ICD-10-CM lookup tool lists it as a valid, billable code for FY2026, effective October 1, 2025. It already carries a full 7th character, so no further specificity code is needed to put it on a claim.

The cuboid sits on the outer side of the foot, between the calcaneus and the fourth and fifth metatarsals. Breaks here turn up less often than calcaneal or metatarsal fractures, but they follow the same S92 structure.

The direct parent is S92.21, fracture of cuboid bone, which in turn sits under S92.2 for other and unspecified tarsal bones.

The 7th character reports healing status, not the visit number

G marks a subsequent encounter where the fracture is healing with delay. Subsequent means active treatment is finished and the patient has moved into the recovery phase. It does not mean second visit. Coders who count appointments instead of reading the note tend to land on the wrong character.

G applies once clinical or radiographic evidence shows repair is running behind the expected pace for that fracture, and before anyone confirms a nonunion. S92.215 accepts seven 7th characters in total, and they are listed below.

The G and K split is the one payers watch. Delayed healing means repair is still under way, just slowly. Nonunion means repair has stopped. Naming the imaging finding or the clinical sign that puts the patient in one camp is what holds the code up under review.

Displacement changes the code before the 7th character does

A nondisplaced fracture is one where the bone fragments have stayed in line. For the cuboid, that answer sets the sixth character, and it is settled before encounter type comes into it at all.

S92.215G covers the nondisplaced left cuboid. A displaced cuboid fracture of the left foot is S92.212G at the same 7th character. Getting the sixth character wrong is still a coding error, however carefully the seventh was chosen.

Displacement has to come from the treating clinician, usually in the imaging report or the encounter note. A note reading only “cuboid fracture, left foot” defaults to unspecified displacement, which does not support S92.215G.

CMS ICD-10-CM coding guidance points coders toward a provider query rather than reading displacement out of imaging language alone.

Every code in the S92.215 family, side by side

S92.215 covers the whole encounter range for a nondisplaced left cuboid fracture. Its neighbors handle the right foot, the unspecified foot, and displaced fractures.

Only two characters decide which one you need, and the grid below shows how they combine.

Reach for the table when laterality, displacement, or encounter type shifts. The same two-part logic runs through the rest of the ICD-10-CM codes for injuries, so it is worth learning once and reusing.

What the note must say before you assign S92.215G

Four elements have to be in the record. Miss one and a payer can downcode the claim or deny it outright. At that point the fix means an appeal instead of a quick edit.

• Laterality confirmation: the note has to say “left foot” in words. Bilateral imaging that covers both feet does not establish the side on its own.
• Fracture displacement status: the clinician writes “nondisplaced” explicitly. Imaging terminology alone is not enough, because the treating provider owns that call.
• Encounter type rationale: the record shows this is a follow-up rather than the first fracture management visit. Referencing the injury date or the prior treatment episode does it.
• Delayed healing evidence: a clinical or radiographic finding dated to this visit. Failure of expected callus formation, pain or instability past the usual timeline, or a plain statement that healing is behind all qualify.

A five-point check before the claim goes out

Run the coded encounter past these five questions. Each one takes seconds, and together they catch most of what gets S92.215G sent back.

• Does the note name the side in words, not just on the imaging header?
• Did the treating clinician write “nondisplaced”, rather than the radiologist implying it?
• Is there a reference to the original injury or a prior treatment episode?
• Is the delayed-healing finding dated to this visit, not carried over from an earlier one?
• Does the 7th character on the charge line match what the note actually describes?

Where the claim goes, and where it usually stalls

Once S92.215G is on the charge line, the claim leaves the practice through a clearinghouse. That is the first screen, and it checks structure rather than clinical logic. Rejections at this stage are format problems, and three of them account for most of the volume.

• A missing 7th character on the diagnosis line.
• A 7th character that is not valid for this code.
• A date of service outside the code’s fiscal year.

Denials arrive later and look different. The claim was accepted, adjudicated, and then reduced or refused on medical necessity. That is where the delayed-healing documentation earns its keep, since the payer is testing whether the record supports the healing status you reported.

Steady denial management puts G-character codes on a standing review list, because delayed healing has to be re-substantiated at every visit.

Three mix-ups that send cuboid claims back

• Displaced coded as nondisplaced. A coder reads “fragments in near-anatomic alignment” as nondisplaced when the clinician documented displaced. S92.212G and S92.215G are not interchangeable.
• Laterality lost between imaging and note. The scan covers both feet, so the note has to name the side. Without it the code drops to S92.216G, which reviewers treat as under-documented.
• G carried over from an earlier visit. A claim reporting G at visit five needs delayed-healing findings from visit five. Findings from visit two support visit two.

How the guidelines sequence S92.215G on a claim

The ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting govern how the code is applied. Per AAPC’s ICD-10-CM code reference, care phase and healing status are two separate dimensions riding on one character.

Both have to be right for the claim to hold.

• Care phase versus healing status: A, B, D, G, K, P, and S encode encounter type and healing outcome at the same time. A code cannot be an initial encounter and a delayed-healing encounter at once, since delayed healing applies only to follow-ups.
• FY2026 validity: S92.215G is valid for HIPAA-covered transactions from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. CMS and NCHS co-publish the annual tabular list, so verify current-year validity against an official source each fiscal year.
• Sequencing: when S92.215G is the reason for the visit, it is the principal diagnosis. If the encounter also treats a complication or comorbidity, sequence the rest around it and confirm the primary code matches the primary reason.
• External cause codes: ICD-10-CM encourages them for fractures without mandating them everywhere. Where payer policy asks for one, report the W, V, X, or Y code for the original mechanism with a matching encounter character.

The ICD-9 crosswalk lands on 825.23, and only roughly

S92.215G maps approximately to ICD-9-CM 825.23, closed fracture of cuboid. The mapping keeps the bone and the closed status, and drops the rest. ICD-9-CM had no laterality for this bone, no displacement split, and no way to record encounter type or healing status.

Treat it as a historical equivalence for data migration, retrospective audits, or pre-2015 payer reconciliation, never as a clinical match.

How providers word it in the note, and what still maps to G

Clinical notes rarely use the tabular wording. The phrasings below all land on S92.215G when the record carries the full picture: nondisplaced, left foot, subsequent encounter, delayed healing. Read for meaning rather than waiting for ICD-10-CM language to show up verbatim.

• Closed nondisplaced fracture of cuboid bone, left foot, with delayed healing
• Nondisplaced cuboid fracture left foot, delayed union, follow-up visit
• Left cuboid stress fracture with delayed healing, subsequent encounter
• Nondisplaced tarsal cuboid fracture left, follow-up, healing delay
• Left foot cuboid fracture, nonunion suspected but not confirmed, subsequent care

“Delayed union” and “delayed healing” mean the same thing for coding purposes, and both take G. “Suspected nonunion” takes G as well, because K needs a confirmed finding. That distinction keeps practices from upcoding to K while the clinical picture still supports delayed healing.

How Pabau moves a fracture claim from the note to the payer

Plenty of practices still do this by hand. Someone reads the encounter note and picks the code from a printed list or from memory. Then it gets typed into a claim form, with no check that the October update left it standing. Each of those steps is a place where the 7th character can drift away from what the clinician wrote.

Practice management software like Pabau shortens that distance. Codes recorded against the patient seed the claim form, so S92.215G travels from the record to the charge line without being retyped. A searchable ICD-10-CM and CPT library sits inside the claim screen, refreshed with each official annual release. Coders work from current codes rather than last year’s printout.

Before a claim can go, Pabau’s claims management software checks that the required fields are complete, then submits electronically through the clearinghouse for your region. In the US that runs through Claim.MD, which returns eligibility checks, claim status, and electronic remittance advice.

Deciding whether the note supports a G rather than a D is still a coder’s judgment. What the software takes away is the retyping, the stale code list, and the half-finished claim form.

Move fracture codes from the note to the claim

Pabau pre-fills claims from the patient record and keeps current ICD-10-CM and CPT lookup libraries a click away. Required claim fields are checked before submission, so your coders retype less and your claims come back less often.

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Conclusion

S92.215G is a narrow code, and that is exactly its value. In eight characters it tells the payer the fracture is nondisplaced, on the left, past active treatment, and behind on healing.

Finding the code is the easy part. The work sits in the note behind it. That note has to name the side, the displacement, the encounter, and the finding that shows healing has slowed.

Review your G-character claims as a batch rather than one at a time. A run of them from one provider with thin healing documentation points at the note template. Book a demo to see how Pabau pre-fills fracture claims from the patient record and checks them for completeness before they leave the practice.

Continue your research

Need to understand how claims move from code to payment? Revenue cycle management fundamentals explains the full billing lifecycle from encounter to remittance.

Tracking denials across your fracture codes? Medical billing compliance covers the documentation standards that cut denial rates on musculoskeletal claims.

Comparing clearinghouses for US claim submission? Claim.MD pricing and features outlines what the integration costs and what it returns on each claim.

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