Hi everyone,
I code for a Nephrology office with 4 physicians and a Physician Assistant, my question is when I see a primary diagnosis of chronic kidney disease with a secondary dx of hypertension, does that itself give me enough information to make the second diagnosis 403.xx instead of 401.x. I'm not able to find anything that definitively states that this is the correct way to code. I understand that ICD-9 states to assume a cause and effect relationship (pgs. 9-10) but it's hard to wrap my head around an assumption when it was drilled into me from my education that a good coder does not assume anything. I would really appreciate an experienced nephrology coder's advice on this.
Thanks,
Chrisden_7
I code for a Nephrology office with 4 physicians and a Physician Assistant, my question is when I see a primary diagnosis of chronic kidney disease with a secondary dx of hypertension, does that itself give me enough information to make the second diagnosis 403.xx instead of 401.x. I'm not able to find anything that definitively states that this is the correct way to code. I understand that ICD-9 states to assume a cause and effect relationship (pgs. 9-10) but it's hard to wrap my head around an assumption when it was drilled into me from my education that a good coder does not assume anything. I would really appreciate an experienced nephrology coder's advice on this.
Thanks,
Chrisden_7