H66.4Suppurative otitis media, unspecified

H66.4 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for suppurative otitis media, unspecified. It belongs to category H66 (suppurative and unspecified otitis media), block H65-H75 (diseases of middle ear and mastoid) 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 H66, choose H66.4 (Suppurative otitis media, unspecified) only when documentation doesn't support a more specific option: acute suppurative otitis media (H66.0), chronic tubotympanic suppurative otitis media (H66.1), chronic atticoantral suppurative otitis media (H66.2), other chronic suppurative otitis media (H66.3) and otitis media, unspecified (H66.9).

To report this condition, pick the subcode that matches the documentation: H66.40 (unspecified ear), H66.41 (right ear), H66.42 (left ear) and H66.43 (bilateral).

Use an additional code for any associated perforated tympanic membrane (H72.-). Use an additional code to identify: exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (Z77.22), exposure to tobacco smoke in the perinatal period (P96.81), history of tobacco dependence (Z87.891), occupational exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (Z57.31), tobacco dependence (F17.-) and 1 more.

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