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J03.81

J03.81: Acute recurrent tonsillitis due to other specified organisms

Billable / specific codeICD-10-CM

J03.81 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for acute recurrent tonsillitis due to other specified organisms. It is valid for submission on a claim.

Check J03.81 with the rest of the claim: free scrubber

Excludes1 inherited from the categories above J03.81

A category’s note binds every code beneath it.

Written on J03.8: Acute tonsillitis due to other specified organisms

  • diphtheritic tonsillitis (A36.0)
  • herpesviral pharyngotonsillitis (B00.2)
  • streptococcal tonsillitis (J03.0)
  • tuberculous tonsillitis (A15.8)
  • Vincent's tonsillitis (A69.1)

Written on J03: Acute tonsillitis

  • acute sore throat (J02.-)
  • hypertrophy of tonsils (J35.1)
  • peritonsillar abscess (J36)
  • sore throat NOS (J02.9)
  • streptococcal sore throat (J02.0)

Excludes2 inherited from the categories above J03.81

Not part of this code, but both may be coded when both are present.

Written on J03: Acute tonsillitis

  • chronic tonsillitis (J35.0)

Other codes that can never be billed with J03.81

Their own Excludes1 notes name this code, so the conflict is not listed above.

  • J36Peritonsillar abscess

Risk adjustment

No CMS-HCC V28 category: this code does not change a RAF score.

Alphabetic index entries that lead here

  • Tonsillitis›specified organism NEC›recurrent
  • Tonsillitis›staphylococcal›recurrent
  • Adenoiditis›acute›specified organism NEC›recurrent
  • Adenoiditis›acute›staphylococcal›recurrent

Code history

Unchanged in every release from FY2024 to FY2027.

Other codes under J03.8

ICD-10-CMFY2027· effective October 1, 2026

Loaded directly from the CMS/NCHS ICD-10-CM public-domain release: see data sources and our editorial policy. If this page disagrees with the CMS tabular list, this page is wrong. Reference information for professional coders; not medical or billing advice.