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H20.9 ICD-10-CM Code: Unspecified iridocyclitis

Billing Status: YES. This is a valid, specific, and billable ICD-10-CM reference.

Coding at a Glance

Tabular directives
1 inclusion term

Inpatient Payment Groups (MS-DRG)

Potential MS-DRG participation — not a DRG assignment.

MS-DRGs this diagnosis helps define, as principal or secondary, per the CMS ICD-10-CM/PCS MS-DRG Definitions Manual v43, Appendix B.

  • MS-DRG 124 — OTHER DISORDERS OF THE EYE WITH MCC OR THROMBOLYTIC AGENT (MDC 02)
  • MS-DRG 125 — OTHER DISORDERS OF THE EYE WITHOUT MCC (MDC 02)

A diagnosis appearing in a group's logic does not by itself determine the DRG assigned to a stay; the grouper uses the full claim.

Coding instructions

Official Tabular Instructional Notes: the inclusion, exclusion and sequencing notes published for H20.9 in the official ICD-10-CM tabular list, quoted as published.

Source: CMS/CDC — ICD-10-CM Tabular ListRelease: FY2026Effective: October 1, 2025

Inclusion Terms

Alternative terms the tabular list files under this code.

  • Uveitis NOS

Coder workflow for H20.9

MedCoder structured workflow — derived from this code’s own official record

Before you code H20.9

  1. Unspecified does not mean incorrect. When the record gives no greater specificity, H20.9 may be the appropriate code. Check the record for detail that supports a more specific sibling. An unspecified code is for records that do not provide the detail a more specific code needs; a query, not an assumption, is the route to specificity (Guidelines I.A.9.b, I.B.18).

    ReviewH20.1, H20.2, H20.8

    See the relationships section · Guide: Other vs unspecified (NEC vs NOS) →

Choose the right path

  1. Does the record document the detail a more specific sibling code needs?
    Yes → Review the specific siblings in this subcategory.
    No → Continue — H20.9 is appropriate when the documentation goes no further.

    ReviewH20.1, H20.2, H20.8

Consider H20.9. Then confirm the code is valid for the date of service in the Verify section.

Documentation check

The provider’s diagnostic statement
Codes are assigned from the provider’s documented diagnosis, not from clinical criteria, test values or a medication list (Guidelines I.A.19).
Any detail beyond this code’s title
What the record states that a more specific sibling code would capture — or its absence, which itself supports the unspecified code.

Coding decision scenarios

Pattern scenarios for this code’s structure — decision rules, not clinical cases

Documentation: The provider documents the condition in the terms of this code’s title and records no further detail.

Coding question: Is a more specific sibling code supportable?

Path: Review the specific siblings in this subcategory and what each requires the record to state.

Reason: A more specific code needs documentation of the distinguishing element; without it the unspecified code is appropriate, and a provider query is the route to specificity (Guidelines I.A.9.b, I.B.18).

ReviewH20.1, H20.2, H20.8

Every row is derived from this code’s own record — its title, tabular notes, 7th-character family and same-category siblings — with fixed MedCoder wording; nothing is inferred about a patient. The official notes and guideline text are in the sections each row links to, and they control.

Code Overview

Unspecified iridocyclitis is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (H20.9).

MedCoder summary Summary composed by MedCoder from this code's official ICD-10-CM record. The tabular instructional notes themselves appear verbatim below.

Indexed Clinical Terms (2)

Official source data — entries quoted as published, in the Index’s own lookup phrasing

Clinical term phrases from the official ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries that map to this code. These are alphabetic-index entries shown as the Index writes them — lookup phrasing, not necessarily the wording of a final diagnosis.

Verify Before Coding

  • CC as a secondary diagnosis (FY2026). Can raise the stay's MS-DRG severity tier.

From the code registry, the Medicare Code Editor, and the MS-DRG Definitions Manual. Check it against a full claim in Claim Check.

Relationships & Classification

MedCoder structured relationships — computed from published CMS and AHRQ datasets

MS-DRG Grouper Relationships (FY2026)

Potential MS-DRG participation — not a DRG assignment.

FY2026 MS-DRG: CC — Complication or Comorbidity. Reported as a secondary diagnosis, this code raises the stay's MS-DRG severity tier — except when the principal diagnosis is one of 39 clinically related codes on its CMS exclusion list.

Named in the grouper logic of 2 MS-DRGs: DRG 124 (MDC 02), DRG 125 (MDC 02).

From the CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual (Appendices B and C). Actual DRG assignment depends on the complete claim.

Clinical classification (AHRQ CCSR):EYE004 — Uveitis and ocular inflammation (default).

Clinical Classifications Software Refined (CCSR) for ICD-10-CM Diagnoses. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Related Codes

Same clinical process (MS-DRG)

Acts as CC — raises the severity of other admissions. CMS groups these diagnoses into one MS-DRG principal-diagnosis exclusion process — a CC/MCC on this list never raises severity when the principal diagnosis is also on it.

H20.051 — Hypopyon, right eye, H20.052 — Hypopyon, left eye, H20.053 — Hypopyon, bilateral, H20.059 — Hypopyon, unspecified eye, H20.10 — Chronic iridocyclitis, unspecified eye, H20.11 — Chronic iridocyclitis, right eye, H20.12 — Chronic iridocyclitis, left eye, H20.13 — Chronic iridocyclitis, bilateral, H20.20 — Lens-induced iridocyclitis, unspecified eye, H20.21 — Lens-induced iridocyclitis, right eye, H20.22 — Lens-induced iridocyclitis, left eye, H20.23 — Lens-induced iridocyclitis, bilateral, H20.811 — Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis, right eye, H20.812 — Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis, left eye, H20.813 — Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis, bilateral, H20.819 — Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis, unspecified eye, H20.821 — Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome, right eye, H20.822 — Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome, left eye, H20.823 — Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome, bilateral, H20.829 — Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome, unspecified eye, +18 more

Same clinical category (CCSR)

AHRQ's Clinical Classifications Software groups these diagnoses under the same clinical category (Uveitis and ocular inflammation).

H20.22 — Lens-induced iridocyclitis, left eye, H20.23 — Lens-induced iridocyclitis, bilateral, H20.811 — Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis, right eye, H20.812 — Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis, left eye, H20.813 — Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis, bilateral, H20.819 — Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis, unspecified eye, H20.821 — Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome, right eye, H20.822 — Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome, left eye, H20.823 — Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome, bilateral, H20.829 — Vogt-Koyanagi syndrome, unspecified eye, H30.001 — Unspecified focal chorioretinal inflammation, right eye, H30.002 — Unspecified focal chorioretinal inflammation, left eye, H30.003 — Unspecified focal chorioretinal inflammation, bilateral, H30.009 — Unspecified focal chorioretinal inflammation, unspecified eye, H30.011 — Focal chorioretinal inflammation, juxtapapillary, right eye, H30.012 — Focal chorioretinal inflammation, juxtapapillary, left eye, H30.013 — Focal chorioretinal inflammation, juxtapapillary, bilateral, H30.019 — Focal chorioretinal inflammation, juxtapapillary, unspecified eye, H30.021 — Focal chorioretinal inflammation of posterior pole, right eye, H30.022 — Focal chorioretinal inflammation of posterior pole, left eye, +138 more

Same Index main term, other category

The ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries files this code under the main terms “Cyclitis”, “Iridocyclitis”; these codes share that main term but sit in a different category of the Tabular List.

A18.54 — Tuberculous iridocyclitis (tuberculous), A51.43 — Secondary syphilitic oculopathy (syphilitic), A54.32 — Gonococcal iridocyclitis (gonococcal), B00.51 — Herpesviral iridocyclitis (in, herpesvirus), B02.32 — Zoster iridocyclitis (in, zoster), B89 — Unspecified parasitic disease (in, parasitic disease NOS), B99 — Other and unspecified infectious diseases (in, infectious disease NOS), D86.83 — Sarcoid iridocyclitis (in, sarcoidosis), H30.2 — Posterior cyclitis (posterior), M45.9 — Ankylosing spondylitis of unspecified sites in spine (in, ankylosing spondylitis)

Contextual Map

Every relationship of H20.9 in one view: hierarchy, official tabular instructions in both directions, clinical classification, risk adjustment, MS-DRG participation, index terms and change history — each edge carrying the CMS source it derives from.

Hierarchy

Clinical classification (CCSR)

MS-DRG Grouper

MDC crossing

  • MDC 02 — Diseases and Disorders of the Eye[MDC crossing]: “Diseases and Disorders of the Eye — the grouper's crossing between diagnoses and procedures: a principal diagnosis sets the MDC, and same-MDC procedures move the stay to its surgical DRGs. 1,200 same-MDC procedures group here; browse them on the MDC page.”— CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual · FY2026

Index entries

  • Cyclitis[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Iridocyclitis[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026

Nearest codes (40)

Change history

  • FY2016 — In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption [Change history]— CMS release files (code change ledger) · icd10cm-fy2016

Sources for this page

Codes, titles, notes, index terms and mappings on this page are transcribed from the datasets below. Relationships MedCoder computed and text MedCoder wrote are labelled where they appear.

Code, title, tabular notes and index terms Official source data
CMS/CDC ICD-10-CM FY2026 tabular list, index and tables, effective October 1, 2025 Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Claim edits Official source data
CMS Definitions of Medicare Code Edits — v43.1 (April 2026) Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Inpatient payment groups Official source data
CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual (incl. Appendix B diagnosis index, Appendix C CC/MCC list, Appendix E procedure index) and IPPS Final Rule tables — v43 Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Change history and date-of-service validity Official source data
CMS ICD-10-CM release addenda, ingested release by release into the change ledger Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Comparisons, relationships and the contextual map MedCoder structured relationship
Computed by MedCoder from the tabular notes and tables above; every derived relationship is marked as derived where it appears
Summary and FAQ answers MedCoder explanation
Written by MedCoder to explain the sources above: drafted with AI assistance, checked by a person against the release files, and labelled as MedCoder text where it appears. Not official text.

Labels on this page: Official source data · MedCoder structured relationship · MedCoder explanation. How to read the labels · All data sources and release dates

Cite this page

Reference this page in a research guide, syllabus or article. The release is included because code content changes each year.

MedCoder.ai. "H20.9 — Unspecified iridocyclitis." ICD-10-CM FY2026. https://medcoder.ai/icd10/code/h20.9-unspecified-iridocyclitis

Change history

  • FY2016 — October 1, 2015
    In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption
    Unspecified iridocyclitis

No changes since FY2016 — additions, deletions, description changes and billable-status changes are tracked through FY2027 (effective October 1, 2026), and none are recorded for this code. Note changes are tracked from FY2027 only.

Nearest Codes in This Family

Official ICD-10-CM classifications closest to H20.9 in its code family, with their registry titles.

View all codes in the H20 family