ICD-10 F Codes for Dementia
The primary F codes for dementia in the ICD-10 classification system are F00 (Dementia in Alzheimer's disease), F01 (Vascular dementia), F02 (Dementia in other diseases classified elsewhere), and F03 (Unspecified dementia). 1
Complete F Code Classification
The F code series for dementia encompasses the following specific diagnoses:
F00: Dementia in Alzheimer's disease - Used when Alzheimer's disease is the established underlying cause of the dementia syndrome 1, 2
F01: Vascular dementia - Applied when cerebrovascular disease is the primary etiology of cognitive decline 1, 2
F02: Dementia in other diseases classified elsewhere - Utilized for dementia secondary to other specified medical conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or other neurological disorders 1, 2
F03: Unspecified dementia - Used when the specific etiology cannot be determined or when diagnostic workup is incomplete 1, 2
Clinical Context for Code Selection
When selecting the appropriate F code, the underlying pathology determines the specific classification rather than the clinical presentation alone 3. The diagnostic evaluation should establish whether the dementia is due to Alzheimer's disease, vascular pathology, another specific disease process, or remains unspecified 4.
Important Coding Considerations
Medicare carriers historically treat the 290 series codes (senile dementia) as mental health codes with lower reimbursement rates compared to medical codes, creating a financial disincentive for proper documentation. 5 This has contributed to significant undercoding of dementia diagnoses in clinical practice 5.
The current ICD-10 system has only one primary code for Alzheimer's disease (331.0 in ICD-9-CM, corresponding to G30 in ICD-10) with limited clinical modification codes despite numerous complications directly attributable to the disease 5. This limitation in the coding structure impedes recognition of dementia's impact on clinical care 5.