Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Question: We reported H10.10 for a conjunctivitis case – which is what we’ve been reporting ever since ICD-10 went into effect—and it was denied for the first time last week. Was this code deleted under the ICD-10 updates for 2017?

Codify Subscriber

Answer: No it was not. But it’s possible that you were still getting paid for this “unspecified eye” code during the ICD-10 grace period, and now your payer wants you to start getting more specific now that the grace period has expired.

Under ICD-10, you not only have to denote the specific type of conjunctivitis by using the accurate diagnosis code, but you also have to indicate which eye was affected. The following is a sampling of ICD-10 codes that you should study to ensure you’re reporting your ICD-10 codes properly:

• H10.10 — Acute atopic conjunctivitis, unspecified eye
• H10.11 — Acute atopic conjunctivitis, right eye
• H10.12 — Acute atopic conjunctivitis, left eye
• H10.13 — Acute atopic conjunctivitis, bilateral
• H10.2x — Other acute conjunctivitis…
• H10.3x — Unspecified acute conjunctivitis…
• H10.40x — Unspecified chronic conjunctivitis…
• H10.9 — Unspecified conjunctivitis.

The “x” designations above show where you should input an additional digit to denote the affected eye. As shown in the H10.10-H10.13 range above, you have options for the left eye, right eye, bilateral, or unspecified in most categories under ICD-10.

Your physicians should always include the affected eye in their documentation. All you need to do as a coder to capture this already present information is to format your superbill to capture the additional anatomical information.

Note that the “x” digits in the H10.3x and H10.40x examples above don’t translate exactly from one conjunctivitis condition to the other. For H10.3x, a “0” for the final digit refers to an unspecified eye, whereas for H10.40x, a “9” for the final digit refers to an unspecified eye.