What is the correct code for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)?
A. The correct code for coronary artery disease depends on what information is provided in the documentation. CAD is commonly miscoded as 414.00 (coronary atherosclerosis of unspecified type of vessel, native or graft). However, this is incorrect unless the physician specifically notes that both native and graft vessels are present. Hence, the documentation must include information regarding a previous coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) in order to use this code. When there is no documentation of a prior CABG, then the correct code for CAD is 414.01, coronary atherosclerosis of native coronary artery even though the physician does not state “native artery.” This rule was published in Coding Clinic For ICD-9 CM 2nd quarter, 1995 and reiterated in 1st quarter, 2004.
