H61.00Unspecified perichondritis of external ear

H61.00 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for unspecified perichondritis of external ear. It belongs to category H61 (other disorders of external ear), block H60-H62 (diseases of external ear) and chapter 8 (diseases of the ear and mastoid process). It is a header code, so it can't be reported by itself; one of its 4 subcodes must be used instead.

Within H61.0, choose H61.00 (Unspecified perichondritis of external ear) only when documentation doesn't support a more specific option: acute perichondritis of external ear (H61.01), chronic perichondritis of external ear (H61.02) and Chondritis of external ear (H61.03).

To report this condition, pick the subcode that matches the documentation: H61.001 (ear), H61.002 (ear), H61.003 (bilateral) and H61.009 (unspecified ear).

It has been part of ICD-10-CM since the code set took effect on October 1, 2015 and hasn't changed since.