Wiki Hypertensive Urgency

[heartyoga]

My coder came to me saying that the doctor is not using hypertensive urgency for a patient who walked in with 190 mm Hg blood pressure.

Our doctor just dictated it as hypertension, severe (I10).

Is there a standard range limit wherein it can just be hypertension (severe) vs hypertensive urgency?

Coder means well, goes by the book but sometimes gets a bit too enthusiastic about being the coding police.

Thanks!

 

[mitchellde]

it is not up to the coder to question a diagnosis. If the provider documents severe hypertension then that code is I10. If the provider had documented hypertensive urgency but coded it as I10 then the coder would be able to code for the diagnosis of hypertensive urgency as I16.0. We cannot change their diagnosis but we can change the codes to match the rendered diagnosis