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"Mildly reduced ejection fraction" in Interpretation of echo

Date: Dec 3, 2023

Question:

In one of our cardiology clinics, they are billing I50.1 whenever the provider documents "mildly reduced ejection fraction" of the left ventricle in the findings/summary/interpretation of the TTEs without any mention anywhere else of the patient having heart failure. Is it appropriate to bill I50.1 when they only say there's a reduced rejection fraction, but there's nothing else about heart failure in the report? I thought having that key word "failure" was required to qualify for a heart failure code.

Question ID : 19709
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