What is true regarding codes for hypertension heart disease in ICD-10-CM?

The statement that must be coded separately without a stated causal relationship is accurate when considering hypertension heart disease in ICD-10-CM. The guidelines in ICD-10-CM specify that when coding for conditions that exist together, such as hypertension and heart disease, coders must assign separate codes for each condition unless there is a specific code that describes them as a combined entity.

In the case of hypertension heart disease, it is important to recognize that the two conditions can occur independently of one another. Therefore, when documenting a patient's health status, the coder must identify and code each condition separately unless one condition clearly leads to or causes another, and even then, the specific rules about using combination codes must be adhered to.

This separation is dictated by the guidelines in ICD-10-CM, which aim for clarity in documenting patient conditions and ensuring accurate representation of the patient's health status for medical records, insurance purposes, and epidemiological tracking. The emphasis on separate coding ensures that each diagnosis is acknowledged and treated appropriately in the clinical context.