Right Otitis Media ICD-10-CM Codes | 2025

Which right otitis media ICD codes are billable? 

Billable codes are ones that insurance companies use for reimbursement. All of the codes mentioned above are billable. It's important to select the most specific code available based on documented clinical findings:

• Specify acute vs. chronic otitis media
• Indicate suppurative vs. nonsuppurative
• Document the presence of perforated tympanic membrane (ear drum perforation)
• Note if the condition is recurrent
• Identify the affected ear (right ear, left ear, or bilateral)

Clinical information

• Otitis media is an infection located in the air-filled space behind the eardrum that houses the bones that vibrate in the ear. 
• Otitis media is commonly caused by a virus or bacterium in the middle ear resulting from another illness, usually a cold, flu, or allergy. 
• The onset of signs and symptoms of an ear infection is usually quick. Some common symptoms in children of an ear infection are ear pain, trouble sleeping, crying (more than usual), loss of balance, headache, and trouble hearing or responding to sounds. Meanwhile, the symptoms adults experience are ear pain and drainage of fluid from the ear. 
• Practitioners will check a patient's ear via a conventional otoscopy procedure to diagnose otitis media. 
• Treatment of otitis media usually involves managing the pain. Oftentimes, antibiotics are used to clear the infection if it doesn't clear on its own. 

Synonyms include

• Acute otitis media of the right ear
• Right-sided middle ear infection
• Right ear inflammation
• Right tympanic membrane disorder
• Otitis media affecting the right ear