Q&A: You’ve got questions! We’ve got answers!
Physician Practice Insider, May 17, 2016
Submit your questions to Associate Editor Nicole Votta at nvotta@hcpro.com and we will work with our experts to provide you with the information you need.
Q: If a physician orders a consultation for a patient who is experiencing a headache due to hypertension, which ICD-10-CM codes would be assigned? Would hypertension be coded since headache is a common sign and symptom of hypertension, or would both the headache and hypertension be coded?
A: This will depend on the specifics in the physician’s documentation. If the physician treats the headache directly, then you would want to report, along with the hypertension code, the specific type of headache, such as:
- R51, daily chronic headache
- G44.52, new daily persistent headache
If the physician treats only the hypertension, such as adjusting current hypertension drug dosage, expecting that the headache will go away once the hypertension is brought back under control, then you would not need to report it separately.
Editor’s note: Shelley C. Safian, PhD, RHIA, CCS-P, COC, CPC-I, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer, of Safian Communications Services in Orlando, Florida, answered this question for Medicare Compliance Watch. She is a senior assistant professor who teaches medical billing and insurance coding at Herzing University Online in Milwaukee. This information does not constitute legal advice. Consult legal counsel for answers to specific questions.
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Complications from immobility by body system
- Differentiate between types of wound debridement
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Q&A: Primary, principal, and secondary diagnoses
- Nursing responsibilities for managing pain
- The consequences of an incomplete medical record
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- CDC alert: Screen for international travel as Ebola cases increase
- E-mailed
-
- CDC alert: Screen for international travel as Ebola cases increase
- Differentiate between types of wound debridement
- Correctly bill ancillary bedside procedures in addition to the room rate
- Q&A: Utilization Review Committee Membership
- Q&A: Bill blood administration the same way for inpatient and outpatient accounts
- Q&A: A second look at encephalopathy as integral to seizures/CVA
- Performing a SWOT analysis
- Leadership training for charge nurses
- Helping Charge Nurses understand their leadership role (Part 2 of 3)
- Coding, billing, and documentation tips for teaching physicians, interns, residents, and students
- Searched