F70 — Mild intellectual disabilities
F70 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for mild intellectual disabilities. It is valid for submission on a claim.
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- IQ level 50-55 to approximately 70
- Mild mental subnormality
Other codes that can never be billed with F70
These codes carry an Excludes1 note pointing at F70. The conflict binds both ways, but ICD-10-CM only writes it down on one side — so you would not find this by reading F70 alone.
- R41.83Borderline intellectual functioning
Risk adjustment
F70 does not map to an HCC and does not risk-adjust under CMS-HCC V28. That is normal — most ICD-10 codes do not. It still needs to be coded correctly; it just will not move a RAF score.
Medicare coverage
F70 is named in 13 Medicare coverage policies — 11 listing it as supporting medical necessity, and 2 listing it as NOT covered. Which of them applies to you depends on your Medicare contractor, and coverage genuinely differs by state.
- A52434Health and Behavior Assessment/Intervention – Medical Policy Articlenot covered
- A56865Billing and Coding: Psychiatric Inpatient Hospitalizationnot covered
- A56937Billing and Coding: Psychiatry and Psychology Services
- A57052Billing and Coding: Psychiatric Inpatient Hospitalization
How F70 is indexed
Coders do not find codes by browsing the tabular list — they look them up in the alphabetic index, under the word the physician wrote. These are the index entries that lead here, so you can see which chart wordings map to F70.
- Feeble-minded
- Moron(I.Q.50-69)
- Defect, defective›high grade
- I.Q.›50-69
- Weak, weakening, weakness›mind
- Disability, disabilities›intellectual›mild(I.Q.50-69)
Questions about F70
- Is F70 a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- Yes. F70 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
- Where does F70 sit in the tabular list?
- Mental, Behavioral and Neurodevelopmental disorders (F01-F99), in the block Intellectual Disabilities (F70-F79).