Behavioral Health Billing Services

Session-based coding, authorization tracking, telehealth modifiers, incident-to billing. We handle all of it.

AAPC Certified
HIPAA Compliant
All 50 States
Starting at 2.49%
HIPAA Compliant
AAPC Certified
4.9/5 Rating
300+ Practices
9083445-min
9083760-min
90791Eval
96130Testing

Why Behavioral Health Billing Requires Specialty Expertise

Behavioral health billing involves session-based CPT codes with strict time documentation, payer-specific authorization rules, telehealth modifier complexity, and provider type restrictions.

Common Behavioral Health CPT Codes

Our coders handle these behavioral health codes daily. This is not an exhaustive list.

Code
Description
90791
Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation
90792
Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation with medical services
90832
Psychotherapy, 30 minutes
90834
Psychotherapy, 45 minutes
90837
Psychotherapy, 60 minutes
90838
Psychotherapy, 60 min add-on to E/M
90847
Family psychotherapy with patient present
90853
Group psychotherapy
96130
Psychological testing evaluation, first hour
99213
Established patient office visit, low MDM

2026 Medicare Allowables for Behavioral Health CPT Codes by State

Medicare reimbursement for behavioral healthprocedures is not a single national number. Each code's allowable is adjusted by your state's Geographic Practice Cost Index (GPCI) and processed under that state's Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC), so the same behavioral health CPT code pays a different amount in California than it does in Texas or Florida. The table below shows the 10 core behavioral healthcodes our coders bill priced at each state's 2026 locality. The non-facility figure is what an office-based practice collects. The facility figure applies when the service is performed in a hospital-based setting.

Commercial carriers in each state typically reimburse above these Medicare benchmarks and state Medicaid below them, but the Medicare allowable is the contracting anchor every payer negotiation starts from. Compare any individual code across all states with our Medicare fee calculator by state.

2026 Medicare non-facility allowable for Behavioral Health CPT codes across high-volume states
CodeBehavioral Health ProcedureCATXFLNYPAILOHGANCMI
90791Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation$185.78$173.32$174.13$184.81$173.64$172.91$169.49$171.63$170.13$170.91
90792Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation with medical services$214.99$201.54$207.64$217.34$202.54$205.80$197.12$200.75$196.18$200.88
90832Psychotherapy, 30 minutes$91.80$85.85$86.23$91.43$86.02$85.67$84.04$85.05$84.33$84.71
90834Psychotherapy, 45 minutes$121.73$113.89$114.62$121.39$114.15$113.87$111.49$112.88$111.80$112.48
90837Psychotherapy, 60 minutes$178.57$167.03$167.77$177.86$167.37$166.70$163.52$165.48$164.08$164.83
90838Psychotherapy, 60 min add-on to E/M$144.99$136.27$140.53$146.87$136.99$139.34$133.42$135.84$132.68$135.98
90847Family psychotherapy with patient present$115.12$109.83$110.23$115.87$110.19$110.05$108.40$109.22$108.42$109.02
90853Group psychotherapy$32.45$30.38$30.73$32.46$30.46$30.52$29.73$30.14$29.76$30.06
96130Psychological testing evaluation, first hour$132.10$123.62$126.88$133.14$124.17$125.76$120.86$123.00$120.46$122.98
99213Established patient office visit, low MDM$104.31$94.46$98.20$103.97$94.79$96.44$90.97$93.60$90.84$93.44

Full Behavioral Health fee detail by state

2026 Medicare allowables for behavioral health CPT codes in California, processed under Noridian Healthcare Solutions (Jurisdiction E). See California medical billing.

2026 Medicare allowables for Behavioral Health CPT codes in California
CodeDescriptionNon-FacilityFacility
90791Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation$185.78$143.10
90792Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation with medical services$214.99$164.40
90832Psychotherapy, 30 minutes$91.80$72.44
90834Psychotherapy, 45 minutes$121.73$95.65
90837Psychotherapy, 60 minutes$178.57$141.02
90838Psychotherapy, 60 min add-on to E/M$144.99$113.77
90847Family psychotherapy with patient present$115.12$107.22
90853Group psychotherapy$32.45$25.34
96130Psychological testing evaluation, first hour$132.10$103.24
99213Established patient office visit, low MDM$104.31$59.65

Source: 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, locality-adjusted by state MAC. Figures are for reference and contracting benchmarks, not a guarantee of payment.

Behavioral Health Billing Challenges We Solve

Common billing problems in behavioral health and how our team handles them.

Session Limit Tracking

Payers impose session limits. Missing re-auth means denied claims.

Telehealth Modifiers

Rules vary by payer, state, and service type.

Provider Type Restrictions

LCSWs, LPCs, MFTs each have different billing rules.

Psych Testing Coding

96130-96139 series with strict time documentation.

Common Behavioral Health Denial Reasons

We prevent these before submission and appeal aggressively when they occur.

!
Payers impose session limits
!
Rules vary by payer, state, and service type
!
LCSWs, LPCs, MFTs each have different billing rules
!
96130-96139 series with strict time documentation

Revenue Opportunities Most Behavioral Health Practices Miss

Behavioral health practices consistently underutilize the E/M + psychotherapy add-on codes. When a psychiatrist spends 30 minutes on medication management and 25 minutes on psychotherapy in the same visit, the correct coding is 99214 + 90836 (add-on psychotherapy, 45 min). This combination reimburses $80 to $120 more than billing 90837 alone. For psychiatrists who see 15 patients per day, this optimization can add $100,000+ annually. Psychological testing (96130-96139) is another underutilized revenue source. The 2019 code changes simplified testing codes but many practices haven't updated their workflows. Proper time documentation and test-by-test reporting can significantly increase testing revenue.

Payer-Specific Behavioral Health Billing Tips

Behavioral health authorization is the most common denial category across all payers. Most commercial payers and Medicaid managed care plans limit therapy to a set number of sessions per authorization period (typically 12-20 sessions), after which re-authorization with updated treatment goals is required. Medicare does not require prior auth for outpatient behavioral health but does require medical necessity documentation. Telehealth behavioral health coverage expanded dramatically during COVID, and most of these expansions are now permanent. However, originating site and distant site requirements vary. We track which payers allow audio-only sessions, which require video, and which have geographic restrictions.

Behavioral Health Billing Best Practices

Practical tips from our coding team to maximize reimbursement and minimize denials.

1
Document session start and stop times for every therapy session — time documentation is required for 90834 (45 min) and 90837 (60 min) time-based codes.
2
Telehealth behavioral health sessions require place of service code 10 (telehealth in patient's home) and modifier 95 for most payers.
3
When a psychiatrist provides both medication management and therapy in the same visit, bill the E/M code with add-on psychotherapy code (90833, 90836, 90838).
4
Track authorized session counts per patient per payer in real-time — exceeding authorized sessions results in 100% denials that are not appealable.

Get Expert Behavioral Health Billing Support

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What We Handle for Behavioral Health Practices

Therapy session coding (90834, 90837)
Authorization and session tracking
Telehealth billing
Psych testing coding
Multi-provider billing
Credentialing for BH providers

Why Choose Go Medical Billing for Behavioral Health

We track authorized sessions in real-time and handle the telehealth modifier complexity across all payers.

We serve behavioral health practices in all 50 states, starting at 2.49% of collections. Our credentialing team handles payer enrollment, and our A/R specialists recover aging claims.

Behavioral Health Billing by State

We handle behavioral health billing in all 50 states. The 2026 Medicare allowables for behavioral health CPT codes in every state are in the fee table above. Open any state below for its full payer environment, Medicaid rules, and Medicare MAC policies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Psychiatrists, psychologists, LCSWs, LPCs, MFTs, and BCBAs.
Correct POS codes, modifiers, and payer-specific rules for all 50 states.

Get Expert Behavioral Health Billing Support

Stop losing revenue to behavioral health coding errors and preventable denials. Call 888-701-6090 for a free billing assessment.