ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: Encounter notes indicate the physician diagnosed a patient with arterial bruit. How do I choose a diagnosis code for this condition?

Maine Subscriber

Answer: The arterial bruit diagnosis maps to an ICD-10 code that serves at least eight different named conditions.

On the claim, you should include R09.89 (Other specified symptoms and signs involving the circulatory and respiratory systems) to represent the patient’s condition.

Explanation: ICD-10 instructs coders to use R09.89 whenever you see one of the following conditions documented:

• Bruit (arterial)
• Abnormal chest percussion
• Feeling of foreign body in throat
• Friction sounds in chest
• Chest tympany
• Choking sensation
• Rales
• Weak pulse.