Is R49.9 a billable ICD-10-CM code?

Yes. R49.9 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.

Where does R49.9 sit in the tabular list?

Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R99), in the block Symptoms and signs involving speech and voice (R47-R49).

What cannot be coded together with R49.9?

R49.9 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 R49.9 (R49) and apply to it just the same.

R49.9

R49.9 — Unspecified voice and resonance disorder

Billable / specific codeICD-10-CM

R49.9 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code for unspecified voice and resonance disorder. It is valid for submission on a claim.

Inclusion terms

Alternative wordings a physician may use in the chart for this same code.

Change in voice NOS
Resonance disorder NOS

Excludes1 inherited from the categories above R49.9

These are not written on R49.9, but they bind it: a note on a category applies to every code beneath it. Billing R49.9 with anything listed here is a denial.

Written on R49 — Voice and resonance disorders

psychogenic voice and resonance disorders (F44.4)

Risk adjustment

R49.9 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

R49.9 is named in 5 Medicare coverage policies — 5 listing it as supporting medical necessity. Which of them applies to you depends on your Medicare contractor, and coverage genuinely differs by state.

A54111Billing and Coding: Speech Language Pathology (SLP) Services: Communication Disorders
A56580Billing and Coding: Computerized Axial Tomography (CT), Thorax
A56729Billing and Coding: Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Head and Neck
A57040Billing and Coding: Speech-Language Pathology

How R49.9 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 R49.9.

Change›voice
Defect, defective›voice
Disorder›resonance
Disorder›voice
Disturbance›voice
Voice›change

Code history

R49.9 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 R49. If R49.9 is not quite right, the correct code is usually one of these.

Questions about R49.9

Is R49.9 a billable ICD-10-CM code?: Yes. R49.9 is a billable, specific ICD-10-CM code and is valid for submission on a claim.
Where does R49.9 sit in the tabular list?: Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R99), in the block Symptoms and signs involving speech and voice (R47-R49).
What cannot be coded together with R49.9?: R49.9 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 R49.9 (R49) and apply to it just the same.