Otolaryngology Coding Alert

Question: If a pressure equalizing tube is not considered a foreign body , what is the correct ICD-9 code for examinations in follow-up visits (i.e., five or six months after surgery)?

Indiana Subscriber

Answer: For follow-up visits post-op ear tube surgery (i.e., 69436, Tympanostomy [requiring insertion of ventilating tube], general anesthesia), you should link the ICD-9 code that describes the reason you did the surgery to begin with, even if the tubes resolved the problem. You are making sure the tubes are ok and the problem is staying resolved -- that is the original complaint. So, if the physician put in tubes for chronic otitis media (382.4), you would use 382.4 for the follow up visits even though the patient is no longer experiencing chronic OM.