Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: Should I report both essential hypertension and pulmonary hypertension together? What about if I code only the pulmonary hypertension since it's more specific?

Massachusetts Subscriber

Answer: The answer depends on whether the essential hypertension you reference is general high arterial blood pressure -- meaning not pulmonary. In this case, essential and pulmonary hypertension should be separate diagnoses. So if the physician documents both diagnoses as medically relevant to the visit, you should report both. Pulmonary hypertension is high blood pressure in the arteries that supply the lungs. To report this service, you should choose the code your documentation supports from 415.x (Acute pulmonary heart disease) or 416.x (Chronic pulmonary heart disease).

For essential hypertension, use 401.x (Essential hypertension). The condition, also known as primary or idiopathic, involves high arterial blood pressure without any identifiable organic cause.