B50.8Other severe and complicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria

B50.8 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for other severe and complicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. It belongs to category B50 (Plasmodium falciparum malaria), block B50-B64 (protozoal diseases) and chapter 1 (certain infectious and parasitic diseases). It is billable, so it can be reported on its own for dates of service from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.

Within B50, choose B50.8 (Other severe and complicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria) only when documentation doesn't support a more specific option: with cerebral complications (B50.0) and unspecified (B50.9).

As a secondary diagnosis it is a CC (complication or comorbidity), which can move an inpatient stay into the "with CC" MS-DRG of its family, unless the principal diagnosis excludes it.

In MS-DRG v44.0, it is part of the grouping logic for DRG 867 (Other Infectious and Parasitic Diseases Diagnoses with MCC, relative weight 2.1859), DRG 868 (Other Infectious and Parasitic Diseases Diagnoses with CC, relative weight 1.0235) and DRG 869 (Other Infectious and Parasitic Diseases Diagnoses without CC/MCC, relative weight 0.6787), in MDC 18 (Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Systemic or Unspecified Sites), as a principal or secondary diagnosis. The DRG a claim lands in depends on the principal diagnosis, procedures and any CC/MCC secondary diagnoses.

It has been part of ICD-10-CM since the code set took effect on October 1, 2015 and hasn't changed since.

Before ICD-10, this condition was coded in ICD-9-CM as 084.8 (Blackwater fever) and 084.9 (other pernicious complications of malaria).