# Coding Renal Disease



## nycoder (Sep 19, 2008)

Hi, 

When coding renal diseases such as renal insuffiency or renal failure is it acceptable to also code the conditions such as: htn, hyperkalemia, proteinuria, renal artery stenosis, etc?  Or are these conditions all implied under the main kidney disease code?  I know that htn, dm and hyperkalemia are associated with chronic kidney disease and therefore not to be coded separately but what about when the doctor's diagnosis is renal insuffiency/failure?

Any input would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks!


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## pkidd (Sep 19, 2008)

*Renal disease*

Hi,
I work for a general surgical practice that does renal surgery (fistulas, p-d catheters, etc.), so our practice does not routinely list other codes for the surgical coding.   We often do for the initial consultation/new patient encounters.

However, my practice is associated with two nephrology practices - we all work for Samaritan Health Services.    Both nephrology practices routinely code other conditions, such as anemia, htn, proteinuria, etc.  We also have an internal medicine practice with a nephrologist; his coder codes other conditions with CKD as well.

I hope this is helpful to you,
pat k


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## CC5657 (Sep 19, 2008)

nycoder said:


> Hi,
> 
> When coding renal diseases such as renal insuffiency or renal failure is it acceptable to also code the conditions such as: htn, hyperkalemia, proteinuria, renal artery stenosis, etc?  Or are these conditions all implied under the main kidney disease code?  I know that htn, dm and hyperkalemia are associated with chronic kidney disease and therefore not to be coded separately but what about when the doctor's diagnosis is renal insuffiency/failure?
> 
> ...



I work for a nephrology office & we code the conditions with the stage of renal failure. In some cases, such as HTN & diabetes, if they are the reason for the renal failure, you have to code both dx's. For example, if they have HTN, 403.10, you NEED to code 585.1-585.4 or 403.11 for 585.5-585.6. 
Hope I explained this right?!


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