Coding Guide for Outpatient Mental Health Services
Here we will break down and go over the CPT® codes used to report, and receive reimbursement for, outpatient mental health services conducted by a mental health professional.
These codes are uniform, numerical codes which translate to a service. With psychotherapy, these codes are typically describing the amount of time and what type of session was performed. You can find more information about this below.
What are CPT®
Codes?
90837?
Common Procedural Terminology is developed and maintained by the AMA (American Medical Association), first developed and used in 1966. It offers a means of creating a standardized, uniform language to increase accuracy and efficiency. They are 5 digit codes, and there are up to 11,163 different codes at the time of the AMA 2014 code release.
Fortunately, in outpatient mental health the code set we utilize is MUCH smaller. We utilize the codes within the 90785-90899 (Psychiatry Services and Procedures), which typically is based on time, who the session is focused on, and details of that sort.
Frequently used CPT® Codes Below:
CPT® CODE | Time | Description |
90791 | 20-90 minutes | Psychiatric Diagnostic Evaluation |
90837 | 53-67 minutes | Psychotherapy (60 Minutes) |
90834 | 38-52 minutes | Psychotherapy (45 Minutes) |
90832 | 16-37 minutes | Psychotherapy (30 Minutes) |
90846 | 26-50 minutes | Family or Couples Psychotherapy, without Patient Present |
90847 | 26-50 minutes | Family or Couples Psychotherapy, with Patient Present |
90853 | 45-60 minutes | |
90839 | 30-74 minutes | Psychotherapy for crisis, for when a patient is in a state that is considered life-threatening and requiring immediate intervention |
+90840 | 30 minutes | Used as an add-on code, reported with 90839, when services extend beyond 60 minutes. for each additional 30 minutes |
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