Cracking the Code
Hypertensive Retinopathy
- Published on
Hypertension in the small vessel of the eyes can cause serious damage and even lead to blindness. In retinopathy, the increased pressure leads to the growth of unstable vessels in the eye. These vessels can fracture and bleed, causing complications to vision and to eye circulation. Two codes are necessary to identify the condition. Assign a code from subcategory H35.0 Background retinopathy and retinal vascular changes, and an appropriate code from the circulatory categories I10-I15, to indicate the type of hypertension. We can find Hypertensive retinopathy in our ICD-10-CM Alphabetic Index by looking for Retinopathy (background)/hypertensive.
Q: Applying the coding concept from ICD-10-CM guideline I.C.9.a.5, how do we code hypertensive retinopathy?
A: Sequencing is based on the reason for the encounter. Rationale: The ICD-10-CM Official Coding Guideline I.C.9.a.5, states Background retinopathy and retinal vascular changes, should be used with a code from category I10-I15 to identify the hypertension. Sequencing is based on the reason for the encounter.
Reference: 2024 ICD-10-CM codebook & guidelines