What your physician documents is key If you incorrectly dig into hypertension ICD-9 codes, you could set your claim up for limbo land. Take this true/false quiz to see if you're going that necessary extra mile. Question 1: Your cardiologist's documentation specifies that the patient has hypertension. You have enough information to choose an accurate ICD-9 code. True or false? Question 2: If your cardiologist doesn't specify the type of hypertension, you can assume that means benign because that's more common. True or false? Question 3: Malignant or benign hypertension is the highest degree of specificity you can go with one hypertension code. True or false?