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H46.8 ICD-10-CM Code: Other optic neuritis

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

Coding at a Glance

Tabular directives
2 Excludes2

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 123 — NEUROLOGICAL EYE DISORDERS (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 H46.8 in the official ICD-10-CM tabular list, quoted as published.

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

Notes without a marker are published on H46.8 itself; “inherited from” names the category or block whose note applies here.

Excludes2 — Not Included Here

Conditions not covered by this code, but which may be reported alongside it when both are present.

Coder workflow for H46.8

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

Before you code H46.8

  1. “Other” (NEC) means the condition is specified in the record but no dedicated code captures it. Confirm the documented form is not one a sibling code names before settling on H46.8; if the record states no specifics at all, the unspecified sibling applies instead. “Other” codes are for documented conditions the classification gives no specific code; “unspecified” codes are for records lacking the detail (Guidelines I.A.9.a, I.A.9.b).

    ReviewH46.0, H46.1, H46.2, H46.3

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

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.

Official instructions as workflow

  • Excludes2 — not part of H46.8(2 notes)

    Coding workflow: The conditions named in this note are not included in H46.8. When the record documents both, both may be reported; the note is a boundary, not a prohibition.

    CompareH47.01

    See the official tabular notes · Guidelines I.A.12.b

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

Other optic neuritis is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (H46.8).

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 (1)

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 12 clinically related codes on its CMS exclusion list.

Named in the grouper logic of 1 MS-DRG: DRG 123 (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):EYE006 — Neuro-ophthalmology (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.

H46.00 — Optic papillitis, unspecified eye, H46.01 — Optic papillitis, right eye, H46.02 — Optic papillitis, left eye, H46.03 — Optic papillitis, bilateral, H46.10 — Retrobulbar neuritis, unspecified eye, H46.11 — Retrobulbar neuritis, right eye, H46.12 — Retrobulbar neuritis, left eye, H46.13 — Retrobulbar neuritis, bilateral, H46.2 — Nutritional optic neuropathy, H46.3 — Toxic optic neuropathy, H46.9 — Unspecified optic neuritis

Same clinical category (CCSR)

AHRQ's Clinical Classifications Software groups these diagnoses under the same clinical category (Neuro-ophthalmology).

H46.00 — Optic papillitis, unspecified eye, H46.01 — Optic papillitis, right eye, H46.02 — Optic papillitis, left eye, H46.03 — Optic papillitis, bilateral, H46.10 — Retrobulbar neuritis, unspecified eye, H46.11 — Retrobulbar neuritis, right eye, H46.12 — Retrobulbar neuritis, left eye, H46.13 — Retrobulbar neuritis, bilateral, H46.2 — Nutritional optic neuropathy, H46.3 — Toxic optic neuropathy, H46.9 — Unspecified optic neuritis, H47.011 — Ischemic optic neuropathy, right eye, H47.012 — Ischemic optic neuropathy, left eye, H47.013 — Ischemic optic neuropathy, bilateral, H47.019 — Ischemic optic neuropathy, unspecified eye, H47.021 — Hemorrhage in optic nerve sheath, right eye, H47.022 — Hemorrhage in optic nerve sheath, left eye, H47.023 — Hemorrhage in optic nerve sheath, bilateral, H47.029 — Hemorrhage in optic nerve sheath, unspecified eye, H47.031 — Optic nerve hypoplasia, right eye, +108 more

Same Index main term, other category

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

G52.3 — Disorders of hypoglossal nerve (hypoglossal), G52.8 — Disorders of other specified cranial nerves (accessory), G54.5 — Neuralgic amyotrophy (shoulder-girdle), G56.1 — Other lesions of median nerve (thenar), G57.9 — Unspecified mononeuropathy of lower limb (ilioinguinal), G58.8 — Other specified mononeuropathies (specified nerve NEC), G60.0 — Hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy (Déjérine-Sottas), G61.0 — Guillain-Barre syndrome (infectious NEC), G62.1 — Alcoholic polyneuropathy (alcoholic), G62.2 — Polyneuropathy due to other toxic agents (toxic NEC), G62.9 — Polyneuropathy, unspecified (peripheral), H93.3 — Disorders of acoustic nerve (acoustic), M10.9 — Gout, unspecified (gouty), M51.9 — Unspecified thoracic, thoracolumbar and lumbosacral intervertebral disc disorder (due to, herniation, nucleus pulposus), M54.14 — Radiculopathy, thoracic region (thoracic), M54.16 — Radiculopathy, lumbar region (lumbar), M54.17 — Radiculopathy, lumbosacral region (lumbosacral), M79.2 — Neuralgia and neuritis, unspecified, P11.3 — Birth injury to facial nerve (facial, newborn), T80.69 — Other serum reaction due to other serum (serum), +14 more

Contextual Map

Every relationship of H46.8 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

  • CC — Complication or Comorbidity [MS-DRG severity]: “As a secondary diagnosis this code can raise the stay's MS-DRG severity tier (CC).”— CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual (Appendix C) · FY2026
  • DRG 123 — NEUROLOGICAL EYE DISORDERS[MS-DRG]: “NEUROLOGICAL EYE DISORDERS (MDC 02)”— CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual (Appendix B) · FY2026

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

  • Neuritis (rheumatoid), optic (nerve) (hereditary) (sympathetic), specified type NEC[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026

Nearest codes (14)

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. "H46.8 — Other optic neuritis." ICD-10-CM FY2026. https://medcoder.ai/icd10/code/h46.8-other-optic-neuritis

Change history

  • FY2016 — October 1, 2015
    In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption
    Other optic neuritis

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 H46.8 in its code family, with their registry titles.

View all codes in the H46 family