A patient is seen in the obstetrical clinic, 6 weeks postpartum.

In obstetric and postpartum coding, the most important clarification is thetype/timingof hypertension because ICD-10-CM has distinct categories for chronic (pre-existing) hypertension, gestational hypertension, and hypertensive disorders that persist into or present during the postpartum period. At 6 weeks postpartum with elevated readings (including a systolic of 160) and headache, the documentation “hypertension” is not specific enough to determine whether this represents chronic hypertension that predates pregnancy, gestational hypertension that has not resolved, or another pregnancy-related hypertensive disorder requiring different obstetric coding and follow-up. ACDIS outpatient CDI guidance prioritizes queries that resolve coding-impactful ambiguity using clinically supported options without leading the provider. While postpartum preeclampsia could be a clinical consideration, the note does not provide key supporting elements (e.g., proteinuria or other definitive severe-feature criteria), so jumping directly to preeclampsia/eclampsia is less appropriate than clarifying onset and relationship to pregnancy. Linking hypertension to smoking is not a standard required linkage for diagnosis coding, and “hypertensive crisis” is not supported by the documentation provided.