The ICD-10-CM classification presumes a causal relationship between hypertension and heart involvement and between hypertension and kidney involvement, as the two conditions are linked by the term “with” in the Alphabetic Index. These conditions should be coded as related even in the absence of provider documentation explicitly linking them unless the documentation clearly states the conditions are unrelated.
For hypertension and conditions not specifically linked by relational terms such as “with” or “due to” in the classification, provider documentation must link the conditions in order to code them as related.