Billable FY2026 ICD-10-CM diagnosis code, knee region. What it covers, how to bill it cleanly, and what these patients sound like when they call.
The left-sided counterpart of M17.11: primary osteoarthritis of the left knee only. The unilateral primary family (M17.10 unspecified, M17.11 right, M17.12 left) exists precisely so claims can carry laterality, and the unspecified member of the family is the one that attracts payer scrutiny.
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| M17.10 | Unilateral primary osteoarthritis, unspecified knee |
| M17.11 | Unilateral primary osteoarthritis, right knee |
| M17.0 | Bilateral primary osteoarthritis of knee |
| M17.2 | Bilateral post-traumatic osteoarthritis of knee |
| M17.30 | Unilateral post-traumatic osteoarthritis, unspecified knee |
| M17.31 | Unilateral post-traumatic osteoarthritis, right knee |
Left-versus-right sounds trivial until an imaging order or an injection consent goes to the wrong knee. Intake that reliably captures laterality on the first call protects everything downstream, from the MRI authorization to the OR schedule.
ClinicFlow's voice AI runs this intake on every call for joint replacement practices: capturing the story, applying your routing rules, and booking the right visit type with the right surgeon. See voice AI for joint replacement practices or the Call Library for how each call type is handled.
M17.12 is the FY2026 ICD-10-CM code for unilateral primary osteoarthritis, left knee. The left-sided counterpart of M17.
Increasingly yes. Payers flag unspecified-laterality codes on high-cost pathways like arthroplasty, and specific codes reduce medical-necessity friction on imaging and prior auth.
Yes. M17.12 appears in the official FY2026 ICD-10-CM code set (effective October 1, 2025). ICD-10-CM is public-domain CMS data; verify annually as codes are revised each fiscal year.
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