icd for hypertension
Blood pressure can vary during the day. Therefore, one elevated blood pressure reading cannot be diagnosed as hypertension. ICD-9-CM code 796.2 is assigned for elevated blood pressure without a diagnosis of hypertension and for transient or borderline hypertension. Once hypertension is established by a physician, a code from category 401 is assigned, with a fourth digit required: 0 for malignant, 1 for benign, and 9 for unspecified.