Z77
Non-Billable (Header)Other contact with and (suspected) exposures hazardous to health
Last updated: FY2026 ICD-10-CM (Oct 1, 2025 – Sep 30, 2026) | CMS-HCC V28 (100% phase-in, PY2026)
What This Code Means
Z77 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for other contact with and (suspected) exposures hazardous to health. Z77 sits in the ICD-10-CM chapter for factors influencing health status and contact with health services (z00-z99), within the section covering persons with potential health hazards related to family and personal history and certain conditions influencing health status (z77-z99).
Header codes like Z77 cannot be reported on claims directly — they organize child codes that share clinical context but the actual diagnosis must be coded to the highest level of specificity supported by the documentation. Coders should look at Z77's child codes and select the one that matches the patient's documented presentation, since payers reject header codes submitted as the primary diagnosis. For risk adjustment workflows, header codes never contribute to a Medicare Advantage member's RAF score on their own; only billable child codes that happen to map to a payment HCC affect risk-adjusted plan payments.
HCC Buddy maintains structured V28 and V24 mapping, RAF weights, and MEAT documentation criteria for Z77 sourced directly from the CMS-HCC risk adjustment model files and the CMS ICD-10-CM code set.
Includes
- contact with and (suspected) exposures to potential hazards to health
Excludes 2 — Not included here, may code separately
- contact with and (suspected) exposure to communicable diseases (Z20.-)
- exposure to (parental) (environmental) tobacco smoke in the perinatal period (P96.81)
- newborn affected by noxious substances transmitted via placenta or breast milk (P04.-)
- occupational exposure to risk factors (Z57.-)
- retained foreign body (Z18.-)
- retained foreign body fully removed (Z87.821)
- toxic effects of substances chiefly nonmedicinal as to source (T51-T65)