Impacted cerumen, bilateral 1 H61.23 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes. 2 The 2020 edition of ICD-10-CM H61.23 became effective on October 1, 2019. 3 This is the American ICD-10-CM version of H61.23 - other international versions of ICD-10 H61.23 may differ.
If the cerumen is impacted, the method used to remove it. CPT® guidelines tell us, “For cerumen removal that is not impacted, see E/M service code …” such as new or established office patient (99201-99215), subsequent hospital care (99231-99233), etc.
Impacted cerumen, bilateral. H61.23 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes. The 2019 edition of ICD-10-CM H61.23 became effective on October 1, 2018. This is the American ICD-10-CM version of H61.23 - other international versions of ICD-10 H61.23 may differ.
Cerumen impairs the examination of clinically significant portions of the external auditory canal, tympanic membrane, or middle ear condition; Extremely hard, dry, irritative cerumen causes symptoms such as pain, itching, hearing loss, etc.;
ICD-10-CM Code for Impacted cerumen, left ear H61. 22.
ICD-10-CM Code for Impacted cerumen, right ear H61. 21.
ICD-10 code H61. 2 for Impacted cerumen is a medical classification as listed by WHO under the range - Diseases of the ear and mastoid process .
Impacted cerumen removal is the extraction of hardened or accumulated cerumen (ear wax) from the external auditory canal by mechanical means, such as irrigation or debridement.
Cerumen impaction is defined as an accumulation of cerumen that causes symptoms or prevents assessment of the ear canal, tympanic membrane, or audiovestibular system; complete obstruction is not required.
Impacted cerumen (se-ROO-men) is when earwax (cerumen) builds up in the ear and blocks the ear canal; it can cause temporary hearing loss and ear pain.
An ear lavage, also known as ear irrigation or ear flush, is a safe method of earwax removal when performed by a healthcare professional. Here's how the ear cleaning works: a healthcare professional may use a rubber bulb syringe filled with warm water, or a triggered squirt bottle and cannula to flush out the ear.
earwaxDefinition of cerumen : earwax. Other Words from cerumen Example Sentences Learn More About cerumen.
A new CPT code, 69209, provides a specific billing code for removal of impacted cerumen using irrigation/lavage. Like CPT 69210, (removal of impacted cerumen requiring instrumentation, unilateral) 69209 requires that a physician or qualified healthcare professional make the decision to irrigate/lavage.
Code 69210 is defined as “removal impacted cerumen (separate procedure), one or both ears.” Use this same code only once to indicate that the procedure was performed, whether it involved removal of impacted cerumen from one or both ears.
CPT code 69210, Removal impacted cerumen, (separate procedure) one or both ears.
You may not bill CPT code 69209 with CPT code 69210, “removal impacted cerumen requiring instrumentation, unilateral,” for the same ear. However, CPT codes 69209 and 69210 can be billed for the same encounter if impacted cerumen is removed from one ear using instrumentation and from the other ear using lavage.
CPT® guidelines tell us, “For cerumen removal that is not impacted, see E/M service code …” such as new or established office patient (99201-99215), subsequent hospital care (99231-99233), etc. In other words: If the earwax isn’t impacted, removal is included in the documented evaluation and management (E/M) service reported and may not be separately billed.#N#Per the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), cerumen is impacted if one or more of the following conditions are present: 1 Cerumen impairs the examination of clinically significant portions of the external auditory canal, tympanic membrane, or middle ear condition; 2 Extremely hard, dry, irritative cerumen causes symptoms such as pain, itching, hearing loss, etc.; 3 Cerumen is associated with foul odor, infection, or dermatitis; or 4 Obstructive, copious cerumen cannot be removed without magnification and multiple instrumentations requiring physician skills.
Both 69209 and 69210 are unilateral procedures . For removal of impacted earwax from both ears, append modifier 50 Bilateral procedure to the appropriate code. In the example above of the 7-year-old child, if irrigation occurred in both ears, appropriate coding is 69209-50.#N#When billing Medicare payers, different bilateral rules apply for 69210. The 2016 Medicare National Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value File assigns 69210 a “2” bilateral indicator. This means, for Medicare payers, the relative value units assigned to 69210 “are already based on the procedure being performed as a bilateral procedure.” In contrast to CPT® instructions, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) allows us to report only one unit of 69210 for a bilateral procedure. CMS does allow us to bill a bilateral procedure for cerumen removal by lavage using 69209-50.#N#Finally, note that some payers may stipulate “advanced practitioner skill” is necessary to report removal of impacted earwax (i.e., payers may require that a physician provide 69209, 69210). Query your individual payers to be certain of their requirements.
Rather, most coders would recommend that code 69210 be reserved for use in situations where the cerumen removal takes significant effort by the physician. This is a situation where many individual payors have set different policies for application of this code, so it is best to check with individual payors for their policy.
A.Medicare accepts many different ICD-9 codes as “supporting medical necessity.” By definition, however,#N#69210 always involves the diagnosis of impacted cerumen, so it seems reasonable to always attach the code for impacted cerumen ( 380.4) to the code 69210.#N#Of course, the physician documentation should clearly demonstrate the presence of impacted cerumen, as defined above. If you are attempting to code an E/M code in addition to code 69210, appropriate coding of an additional diagnosis is often helpful to reduce denials.#N#DAVID STERN, MD ( Practice Velocity)
A.A simplistic answer is that removing the wax is simply included in the emergency and management (E/M) code . The actual situation, however, is not quite so straightforward.