The most frequent diagnosis for cochlear implant patients is 389.10 (Sensorineural hearing loss, unspecified). This condition is normally due to lesions of the cochlea and the auditory division of the eighth cranial nerve. When ICD-9 switches to ICD-10 in October 1, 2013, you will have to shift to coding sensorineural hearing loss using the code H90.5 (Unspecified sensorineural hearing loss).
ICD-10 difference: You would not have to make any adjustment to change to the ICD-10 code as the conversion will offer no difference in the code's function. Also, you should notice that 389.10 and H90.5 have the same descriptors.
Otolaryngology coding tips: Think that a patient had cochlear implant surgery, and your otolaryngologist carried out diagnostic analysis. But then this first surgery failed, and the patient underwent a second surgery. You should go for the second round of diagnostic analysis with the same CPT codes you must have used to report the first one: 92601-92604 (Diagnostic analysis of cochlear implant ...).
You can either attach 389.10 or 389.18 (Sensorineural hearing loss of combined types) to the procedure code to describe the fitting diagnosis for bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment.
CI patients normally require analysis within six weeks postoperatively for the initial fitting. The patient goes back periodically during the first year for adjustments to the processor's stimulus parameters to figure out the signals going to surgically implanted electrodes in the cochlea.
