R03.0Elevated blood-pressure reading, without diagnosis of hypertension

R03.0 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for elevated blood-pressure reading, without diagnosis of hypertension. It belongs to category R03 (abnormal blood-pressure reading, without diagnosis), block R00-R09 (symptoms and signs involving the circulatory and respiratory systems) and chapter 18 (symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified). It is billable, so it can be reported on its own for dates of service from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.

Within R03, choose R03.0 (Elevated blood-pressure reading, without diagnosis of hypertension) only when documentation doesn't support a more specific option: nonspecific low blood-pressure reading (R03.1).

It is not a CC or MCC, so as a secondary diagnosis it doesn't change the MS-DRG severity level.

In MS-DRG v44.0, it is part of the grouping logic for DRG 314 (Other Circulatory System Diagnoses with MCC, relative weight 2.0873), DRG 315 (Other Circulatory System Diagnoses with CC, relative weight 0.9508) and DRG 316 (Other Circulatory System Diagnoses without CC/MCC, relative weight 0.6677), in MDC 05 (Diseases and Disorders of the Circulatory System), as a principal or secondary diagnosis. The DRG a claim lands in depends on the principal diagnosis, procedures and any CC/MCC secondary diagnoses.

When it is the principal diagnosis, Medicare considers it a questionable reason for an inpatient admission, so claims may be reviewed.

It has been part of ICD-10-CM since the code set took effect on October 1, 2015 and hasn't changed since.

Before ICD-10, this condition was coded in ICD-9-CM as 796.2 (elevated blood pressure reading without diagnosis of hypertension).