Hi
TLG88,
Reviewing the ICD book I don't see any glaring event telling me these two diagnosis codes cannot be billed together.
But, in my coding opinion, would you really want to bill H66.90 Otitis media, unspecified, unspecified ear? I clearly don't have the information you are reviewing but I usually get the laterality (especially when the rest of the information isn't there to have a coder ultimately fall onto/select a unspecified code).
B97.4 in our book states that to "code first related disorders, such as otitis media (H65.-). Again this isn't telling you that is the only option but that something else was amiss and needs to be first listed diagnosis code. We also know from our ICD book that B95-B97 are secondary codes per the notes in our ICD book.
On a positive note, if it is possible to send a query and ask for laterality. We (as coders already know) our favorite (again ~ tongue in cheek) that the surgeon's report, or the pathology report or otherwise states "consistent with, resembles, could possibly be" type of statements we simply cannot code from, so we head to the default diagnosis codes.
I wish you tons of success and was hopeful when I grabbed my ICD book this evening to help you, but there isn't much there to help you with.
Thank you for listening and have a great evening,
Dana Chock, CPC, CANPC, CHONC, CPMA, CPB, RHIT