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Question: If a patient has intracranial hypotension, is there a single diagnosis code to represent this condition?

Oklahoma Subscriber

Answer: Actually, there are three ICD-10-CM options in the G96.81- (Intracranial hypotension), and you’ll have to check the notes for more information before settling on a code.

You need to check if the hypotension was spontaneous or it was another type of hypotension that is unspecified. The notes might also reference a type of intracranial hypotension that isn’t listed in the ICD-10-CM code choices.

Once you’ve got this information you can choose one of the following codes, depending on encounter specifics:

• G96.810 (Intracranial hypotension, unspecified)
• G96.811 (Intracranial hypotension, spontaneous)
• G96.819 (Other intracranial hypotension).

Chris Boucher, MS, CPC, Senior Development Editor, AAPC