Internal Medicine Coding Alert
Choose Between Malignant and Benign
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Question: Do you have any advice on how I should differentiate between benign or malignant hypertension? What should I look for in the physician documentation? Answer: You should always follow the internist's medical documentation. Usually the physician will state in the medical record if the patient has malignant hypertension (401.0) or benign hypertension (401.1). If your physician doesn't clearly state "malignant" or "benign" in the documentation, you should encourage the physician to do so.
New York Subscriber
Also, you could refer to the ICD-9-CM manual, which offers definitions for both malignant and benign hypertension:
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