Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Question: The ICD-10 description for endophthalmitis now says to “use additional code to identify organism.” The patient was diagnosed with the condition in the right eye, and the biopsy results were “moderate staphylococcus epidermis.” What ICD-10 codes would I report?

Florida Subscriber

Answer: For a diagnosis of endophthalmitis in the right eye, you would report H44.011 (Panophthalmitis [acute], right eye). If the condition were in the left eye, you would report H44.012; H44.013 describes a bilateral condition; and H44.019 describes the condition in an unspecified eye.

For the moderate staphylococcus epidermis, which was the cause of the endophthalmitis, report B95.7 (Other staphylococcus as the cause of diseases classified elsewhere). If the underlying condition were staphylococcus aureus, you would report a code from the B95.6- (Staphylococcus aureus as the cause of diseases classified elsewhere) series. If the kind of staphylococcus was unspecified, you would report B95.8 (Unspecified staphylococcus as the cause of diseases classified elsewhere).