J96.0
Acute respiratory failure
J96.0 is a non-billable ICD-10-CM code header for acute respiratory failure. Report a more specific code from it instead. It is part of the FY2027 code set, effective October 1, 2026. The more specific codes under it are J96.00 Acute respiratory failure, unspecified whether with hypoxia or hypercapnia; J96.01 Acute respiratory failure with hypoxia and J96.02 Acute respiratory failure with hypercapnia. Its coding notes include a Use additional code instruction, 7 Excludes1 entries and 9 Excludes2 entries.
Guidelines tip
From the FY2027 Official Guidelines. ICD10Ref adds no rules of its own.
Acute respiratory failure can be a principal diagnosis when it is chiefly responsible for the admission. Otherwise it is a secondary diagnosis.
Use additional code
Add the listed code as a secondary code, if known.
Also from chapter/block level (7 notes)
Excludes1
Not coded here. The listed conditions generally should not be reported together.
Excludes2
Not included here. Both codes may be reported if the patient has both conditions.
Also from chapter/block level (9 notes)
- certain conditions originating in the perinatal period (P04-P96)
- certain infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99)
- complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O9A)
- congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00-Q99)
- endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E88)
- injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00-T88)
- neoplasms (C00-D49)
- smoke inhalation (T59.81-)
- symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R94)
Notes
Also from chapter/block level (1 note)
- When a respiratory condition is described as occurring in more than one site and is not specifically indexed, it should be classified to the lower anatomic site (e.g. tracheobronchitis to bronchitis in J40).