Home Health ICD-9/ICD-10 Alert

Question: We have a patient with a long history of hypertension who just had coronary artery bypass surgery. We are providing aftercare such as watching for infection of the incisions and peripheral edema, teaching the patient about diet and activity and monitoring pain. The patient also has early Alzheimer's. How should we code this case?


Montana Subscriber


Answer: Code for this patient as follows:

M0230a: V58.73 (Aftercare following surgery of the circulatory system, NEC);
M0240b: V45.81 (Other postprocedural status, aortocoronary bypass status);
M0240c: 414.00 (Coronary atherosclerosis, of unspecified type of vessel, native or graft);
M0240d: 401.9 (Essential hypertension, unspecified); and
M0240e: 331.0 (Alzheimer's disease).

Leave M0245 blank because the V code did not replace a case mix diagnosis. Include 414.00 because you need to code the condition requiring the surgery if the condition still exists.

Unless otherwise indicated, reader questions were answered by Lisa Selman-Holman, JD, BSN, RN, CHCE, HCS-D, COS-C, consultant and principal of Selman-Holman & Associates in Denton, TX.