ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code O68 - Labor and delivery complicated by abnormality of fetal acid-base balance (original) (raw)
ICD List 2025-2026 Edition
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- 2026 ICD-10-CM Code O68
Labor and delivery complicated by abnormality of fetal acid-base balance
ICD-10-CM Code:
O68
ICD-10 Code for:
Labor and delivery comp by abnlt of fetal acid-base balance
Is Billable?
Yes - Valid for Submission
Chronic Condition Indicator: [1]
Not chronic
Code Navigator:
O68 is a billable diagnosis code used to specify a medical diagnosis of labor and delivery complicated by abnormality of fetal acid-base balance. The code is valid during the current fiscal year for the submission of HIPAA-covered transactions from October 01, 2025 through September 30, 2026.
The code O68 is applicable to female patients aged 12 through 55 years inclusive. It is clinically and virtually impossible to use this code on a non-female patient outside the stated age range.
- Code Information
- Approximate Synonyms
- Clinical Classification
- Tabular List of Diseases and Injuries
- Index to Diseases and Injuries References
- Code Edits
- Convert to ICD-9 Code
- Patient Education
- Code History
- Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium
O00-O9A
The following list of clinical terms are approximate synonyms, alternative descriptions, or common phrases that might be used by patients, healthcare providers, or medical coders to describe the same condition. These synonyms and related diagnosis terms are often used when searching for an ICD-10 code, especially when the exact medical terminology is unclear. Whether you're looking for lay terms, similar diagnosis names, or common language alternatives, this list can help guide you to the correct ICD-10 classification.
- Antepartum fetal acidosis
- Fetal acidosis
- Fetal metabolic disorder
- Fetal metabolic disorder
- Fetal metabolic disorder
- Intrapartum fetal acidosis
Clinical Classifications group individual ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes into broader, clinically meaningful categories. These categories help simplify complex data by organizing related conditions under common clinical themes.
They are especially useful for data analysis, reporting, and clinical decision-making. Even when diagnosis codes differ, similar conditions can be grouped together based on their clinical relevance. Each category is assigned a unique CCSR code that represents a specific clinical concept, often tied to a body system or medical specialty.
CCSR Code: PRG024
Inpatient Default: Y - Yes, default inpatient assignment for principal diagnosis or first-listed diagnosis.
Outpatient Default: Y - Yes, default outpatient assignment for principal diagnosis or first-listed diagnosis.
The following annotation back-references are applicable to this diagnosis code. The Tabular List of Diseases and Injuries is a list of ICD-10-CM codes, organized "head to toe" into chapters and sections with coding notes and guidance for inclusions, exclusions, descriptions and more.
Inclusion Terms
- Fetal acidemia complicating labor and delivery
- Fetal acidosis complicating labor and delivery
- Fetal alkalosis complicating labor and delivery
- Fetal metabolic acidemia complicating labor and delivery
Type 1 Excludes
- fetal stress NOS O77.9
- labor and delivery complicated by electrocardiographic evidence of fetal stress O77.8
- labor and delivery complicated by ultrasonic evidence of fetal stress O77.8
Type 2 Excludes
- abnormality in fetal heart rate or rhythm O76
- labor and delivery complicated by meconium in amniotic fluid O77.0
The following annotation back-references for this diagnosis code are found in the injuries and diseases index. The Index to Diseases and Injuries is an alphabetical listing of medical terms, with each term mapped to one or more ICD-10-CM code(s).
- - Delivery (childbirth) (labor)
- - complicated - O75.9
* - by
* - fetal
* - abnormal acid-base balance - O68
* - acidemia - O68
* - acidosis - O68
* - alkalosis - O68
- - complicated - O75.9
- - Pregnancy (single) (uterine) - See Also: Delivery and Puerperal; - Z33.1
- - complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
* - fetal (maternal care for)
* - abnormality or damage - O35.9
* - acid-base balance - O68
* - acidemia - O68
* - acidosis - O68
* - alkalosis - O68
- - complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
References found for this diagnosis code in the External Cause of Injuries Index:
- Delivery(childbirth) (labor)
- complicated
- by
- fetal
- abnormal acid-base balance
- fetal
- by
- complicated
- Delivery(childbirth) (labor)
- complicated
- by
- fetal
- acidemia
- fetal
- by
- complicated
- Delivery(childbirth) (labor)
- complicated
- by
- fetal
- acidosis
- fetal
- by
- complicated
- Delivery(childbirth) (labor)
- complicated
- by
- fetal
- alkalosis
- fetal
- by
- complicated
- Pregnancy(single) (uterine)
- complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
- fetal (maternal care for)
- abnormality or damage
- acid-base balance
- abnormality or damage
- fetal (maternal care for)
- complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
- Pregnancy(single) (uterine)
- complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
- fetal (maternal care for)
- acidemia
- fetal (maternal care for)
- complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
- Pregnancy(single) (uterine)
- complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
- fetal (maternal care for)
- acidosis
- fetal (maternal care for)
- complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
- Pregnancy(single) (uterine)
- complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
- fetal (maternal care for)
- alkalosis
- fetal (maternal care for)
- complicated by (care of) (management affected by)
The Medicare Code Editor (MCE) detects errors and inconsistencies in ICD-10-CM diagnosis coding that can affect Medicare claim validity. These Medicare code edits help medical coders and billing professionals determine when a diagnosis code is not appropriate as a principal diagnosis, does not meet coverage criteria. Use this list to verify whether a code is valid for Medicare billing and to avoid claim rejections or denials due to diagnosis coding issues.
The Medicare Code Editor detects inconsistencies in maternity cases by checking a patient's age and any diagnosis on the patient's record. The maternity code edits apply to patients age ange is 9–64 years inclusive (e.g., diabetes in pregnancy, antepartum pulmonary complication).
Below are the ICD-9 codes that most closely match this ICD-10 code, based on the General Equivalence Mappings (GEMs). This ICD-10 to ICD-9 crosswalk tool is helpful for coders who need to reference legacy diagnosis codes for audits, historical claims, or approximate code comparisons.
ICD-9-CM: 656.31
Approximate Flag - The approximate mapping means this ICD-10 code does not have an exact ICD-9 equivalent. The matched code is the closest available option, but it may not fully capture the original diagnosis or clinical intent.
ICD-9-CM: 656.81
Approximate Flag - The approximate mapping means this ICD-10 code does not have an exact ICD-9 equivalent. The matched code is the closest available option, but it may not fully capture the original diagnosis or clinical intent.
Childbirth Problems
Childbirth is the process of giving birth to a baby. It includes labor and delivery. Usually everything goes well, but problems can happen. They may cause a risk to the mother, baby, or both. Some of the more common childbirth problems include:
- Preterm (premature) labor, when your labor starts before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy
- Premature rupture of membranes (PROM), when your water breaks too early. If labor does not start soon afterwards, this can raise the risk of infection.
- Problems with the placenta, such as the placenta covering the cervix, separating from the uterus before birth, or being attached too firmly to the uterus
- Labor that does not progress, meaning that labor is stalled. This can happen when
- Your contractions weaken
- Your cervix does not dilate (open) enough or is taking too long to dilate
- The baby is not in the right position
- The baby is too big or your pelvis is too small for the baby to move through the birth canal
- Abnormal heart rate of the baby. Often, an abnormal heart rate is not a problem. But if the heart rate gets very fast or very slow, it can be a sign that your baby is not getting enough oxygen or that there are other problems.
- Problems with the umbilical cord, such as the cord getting caught on the baby's arm, leg, or neck. It's also a problem if cord comes out before the baby does.
- Problems with the position of the baby, such as breech, in which the baby is going to come out feet first
- Shoulder dystocia, when the baby's head comes out, but the shoulder gets stuck
- Perinatal asphyxia, which happens when the baby does not get enough oxygen in the uterus, during labor or delivery, or just after birth
- Perineal tears, tearing of your vagina and the surrounding tissues
- Excessive bleeding, which can happen when the delivery causes tears to the uterus or if you are not able to deliver the placenta after you give birth to the baby
- Post-term pregnancy, when your pregnancy lasts more than 42 weeks
If you have problems in childbirth, your health care provider may need to give you medicines to induce or speed up labor, use tools to help guide the baby out of the birth canal, or deliver the baby by Cesarean section.
NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
FY 2026 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2025 through 9/30/2026
FY 2025 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2024 through 9/30/2025
FY 2024 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2023 through 9/30/2024
FY 2023 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2022 through 9/30/2023
FY 2022 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2021 through 9/30/2022
FY 2021 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2020 through 9/30/2021
FY 2020 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2019 through 9/30/2020
FY 2019 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2018 through 9/30/2019
FY 2018 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2017 through 9/30/2018
FY 2017 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2016 through 9/30/2017
FY 2016 - New Code, effective from 10/1/2015 through 9/30/2016. This was the first year ICD-10-CM was implemented into the HIPAA code set.
