J44.0Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with (acute) lower respiratory infection

J44.0 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with (acute) lower respiratory infection. It belongs to category J44 (other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), block J40-J4B (chronic lower respiratory diseases) and chapter 10 (diseases of the respiratory system). It is billable, so it can be reported on its own for dates of service from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.

Within J44 (other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), J44.0 is specifically for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with (acute) lower respiratory infection. Related codes cover chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with (acute) exacerbation (J44.1), other specified chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (J44.8) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, unspecified (J44.9).

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 190 (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with MCC, relative weight 1.0748), DRG 191 (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with CC, relative weight 0.8261) and DRG 192 (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease without CC/MCC, relative weight 0.6288), in MDC 04 (Diseases and Disorders of the Respiratory System), 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 changed in FY2020 (title revised).

Before ICD-10, this condition was coded in ICD-9-CM as 491.22 (obstructive chronic bronchitis with acute bronchitis) and 493.21 (chronic obstructive asthma with status asthmaticus).