Wiki History of HTN

shruthi

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Kindly suggest me the code for - History of Hypertension. Do we need to code 401.9 itself or V17.49.
My point of view is, Hypertension is a chronic disease condition which cannot be cured but can be controlled. So hypertenstion cannot be history and so code for Hx of HTN will be 401.9.



Thanks,
Shruthi.
 
Hypertension

Hypertension can be linked to various cardiovascular and renal diseases. I agree with you in coding 401.9 that v code should only be used if the patient is new and his blood pressure has not been recorded and the patient tells the doctor they had hypertension in the past.
 
First V17.49 is for family history not the patient's history. Second it is not up to the coder to decide if HTN is a on going illness or not if the statement is confusing when put into contect then query the provider. Look for clues in the encounter note, is the patient still under treatment for the HTN? were labs drawn due to the meds? If so then the statement is indicating the patient has a hx of having HTN not they had it in then past. If there is no therapeutic measure being given and there are other issues being tended to then a statement like this must be taken at face value as in the patient had it in the past but no more. Not all HTN is for life. HTN due to obesity will go away if the weight is removed and a healthy lifestyle takes over. when in doubt query the provider, but please put the statement into context, what else is in the encounter.
 
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