With mental health and other psychological treatments rising in demand, specialty clinics with those services should be aware of any industry changes in coding. Being up to date helps avoid denied claims or delayed submissions, which means less issues complicating your billing process.In general, the billing codes are used to describe a specific medical, diagnostic, or surgical procedure to ensure the patient and insurance are properly billed for their services. Some of the most common CPT codes used are:
Psychotherapy
90832 – 30 minutes with patient
+90833 – 30 minutes with a patient with E/M
90834 – 45 minutes with a patient
+90836 – 45 minutes with a patient with E/M
90837 – 60 minutes with a patient
+90838 – 60 minutes with patient with E/M
90845 – Psychoanalysis
90846 – Family psychotherapy (without the patient present); 50 minutes
90847 – Family psychotherapy (conjoint psychotherapy with patient present); 50 minutes
90848 – Multiple-family group psychotherapy
90853 – Group psychotherapy (not a multi-family group)
Psychiatric Diagnostic
90791 – Psychiatric diagnostic evaluate
90792 – Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation with medical services
In general, this shows that the most important information to know when billing is the duration of the appointment, whether it’s in-person or virtual, and how many people are receiving care. Therapists taking notes should keep this in mind.
Records should include:
- Date of appointment
- Provider information
- If it’s in-person or virtual
- Type of therapy
- Diagnoses
- Prescribed medications
- Progress and follow-up
The staff should also make sure when the patient checks in that your office has all up to date insurance information. Claims are most commonly denied due to incorrect insurance information, incorrect codes, and late submissions. If your providers and staff are struggling to get the notes done and getting bills submitted on time, then you most likely need some additional help, such as an expert, outsourced billing team. Give Outsource Receivables Inc. a call to see how outsourcing your billing, evaluating your digital systems, and improving your administrative tasks can benefit your clinic.