Specialty billing
Behavioral health billing services for mental health practices
Behavioral health billing is coding and claiming the evaluations, psychotherapy and medication management a mental health practice provides, where the time spent and who gave the care decide the code.
Behavioral health
The minutes decide the code
- Under 16 min—not billed as psychotherapy
- 16–37 min90832
- 38–52 min90834
- 53+ min90837
Try it
Find the psychotherapy code
Psychotherapy is billed by the minute, and an E/M service in the same visit changes the code.
Which psychotherapy code?
By the minuteThe time documented in the note decides the code.
- 90834
90832 is 16 to 37 minutes, 90834 is 38 to 52, and 90837 is 53 or more.
Why is mental health billing hard?
Psychotherapy is billed by the minute
90832, 90834 and 90837 cover 16 to 37, 38 to 52, and 53 or more minutes of psychotherapy, so the time documented in the note decides the code.
Evaluations and medication visits
A diagnostic evaluation is 90791, or 90792 when a prescriber adds medical services. Psychotherapy in the same visit as an E/M service is billed with the add-ons 90833, 90836 or 90838, not the standalone codes.
Benefits run by someone else
Many health plans hand their mental health benefits to a separate behavioral health company, so the claim isn’t processed by the payer on the card, and some plans require authorization or limit the number of sessions.
Telehealth rules by payer
Sessions by video or phone need the right place-of-service code (02, or 10 for a patient at home) and the modifier each payer asks for, and the rules differ between Medicare, Medicaid and commercial plans.
Each clinician enrolled with each plan
Payers credential psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and counselors differently, and Medicare has enrolled marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors only since January 2024.
What Beeline handles for behavioral health practices
- Credentialing & enrollmentEach clinician enrolled with the plans they bill, behavioral health companies included, and kept current.
- Eligibility verificationBenefits checked before the first session: which company manages them, the copay, any session limit, and whether the plan requires an authorization.
- Medical codingPsychotherapy coded from the documented time, with the add-on codes when therapy is part of a medication visit, and interactive complexity (90785) where the note supports it.
- Claims submissionClaims sent to the company that processes them, with the place of service and telehealth modifiers each payer asks for.
- Denial managementDenials for time, authorization or the wrong payer traced to their cause, then corrected or appealed.
Further reading
Behavioral health billing questions
What is the difference between CPT 90791 and 90792?
How is psychotherapy time billed?
Can therapy sessions by video be billed?
Is behavioral health billing the same as mental health billing?
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