F32.A — Depression, unspecified
F32.A is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for depression, unspecified. It is valid for submission on a claim.
Inclusion terms
Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.
- Depression NOS
- Depressive disorder NOS
Excludes1 inherited from the categories above F32.A
These are not written on F32.A, but they bind it: a note on a category applies to every code beneath it. Billing F32.A with anything listed here is a denial.
Excludes2 inherited from the categories above F32.A
Also inherited, and the opposite of Excludes1: these conditions are not part of F32.A, but a patient can have both, so you may code both.
Other codes that can never be billed with F32.A
These codes carry an Excludes1 note pointing at F32.A. The conflict binds both ways, but ICD-10-CM only writes it down on one side — so you would not find this by reading F32.A alone.
Risk adjustment
F32.A 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
F32.A is named in 7 Medicare coverage policies — 6 listing it as supporting medical necessity, and 1 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
- A56818Billing and Coding: Urine Drug Testing
- A56865Billing and Coding: Psychiatric Inpatient Hospitalization
- A57130Billing and Coding: Psychiatric Codes
How F32.A 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 F32.A.
- Depression(acute) (mental)
- Despondency
- Melancholia
- Disorder›depressive
- Episode›depressive
- State›depressive
The condition this code belongs to
Every code for the condition on one page, which one applies when, and the mistake coders make with it.
Code history
F32.A has not changed since FY2024 — no addition, revision or deletion across the three most recent ICD-10-CM releases.
Related codes at this level
Codes that share F32. If F32.A is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.
- F32.0Major depressive disorder, single episode, mild
- F32.1Major depressive disorder, single episode, moderate
- F32.2Major depressive disorder, single episode, severe without psychotic features
- F32.3Major depressive disorder, single episode, severe with psychotic features
- F32.4Major depressive disorder, single episode, in partial remission
- F32.5Major depressive disorder, single episode, in full remission
- F32.8Other depressive episodes
- F32.9Major depressive disorder, single episode, unspecified
Questions about F32.A
- Is F32.A a billable ICD-10-CM code?
- Yes. F32.A is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
- Where does F32.A sit in the tabular list?
- Mental, Behavioral and Neurodevelopmental disorders (F01-F99), in the block Mood [affective] disorders (F30-F39).
- What cannot be coded together with F32.A?
- F32.A carries Excludes1 notes, which means the conditions they list can never be coded together with it on the same encounter. Some are written on the categories above F32.A (F32) and apply to it just the same.