Psychotherapy CPT Codes 2022

Hello everyone and welcome to our podcast series. This is Natalie Tornese, Director of RCM at Outsource Strategies International. Gonna talk a little bit about psychotherapy codes for 2022.

Mental health providers provide psychotherapy treatment to treat a wide range of mental disorders. This treatment option can be accurately reported on the medical claims using relevant CPT codes.

I will include a transcript of those codes along with this podcast.

00:28 What is Psychotherapy?

An effective mental health treatment, psychotherapy is used by psychotherapists and other mental health professionals to treat a wide range of mental disorders such as – depression,bipolar, anxiety, anorexia bulimia as well as other eating disorders, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, addictions, personality disorders and more. Therapy is provided in a variety of formats – individual, group, marital/couples or family therapy. There are also different types of psychotherapy and some may work better for certain issues than others.

Psychotherapy is often combined with medication or other therapies for better results.

01:08 Psychotherapy Approaches

A wide range of therapeutic approaches exists, which include:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which involves practicing new skills that help to change thinking and behavior patterns that are harmful.
• Interpersonal therapy (IPT), which focuses on improving interpersonal skills and teaches healthy ways to express emotions and improve communication with family and friends.
• Dialectical behavior therapy. This approach combines both individual and group therapy to teach new behavioral skills to handle stress, manage emotions and improve relationships with others.
• Psycho dynamic therapy approach aims at increasing self awareness on problematic behaviors and thoughts and developing new insights.

The number of psychotherapy sessions recommended depends on key factors such as particular mental illness or the situation, the severity of symptoms, how long patients had symptoms, how much stress they’re currently experiencing, cost, insurance limitations, and more.

02:09 Codes to Document the Time for Psychotherapy Sessions

Time for each psychotherapy session should also be documented on the medical claims.Apply the CPT “Time Rule” and choose the code closest to the actual time of the session.

The time for each psychotherapy session is described as time spent with the patient and/or family, and the time for each code is specific to 30, 45, 60 minutes or more. For more than 60 minutes, there are interactive complexity add on codes what you can list separately to code for the primary procedure. You can also bill for emergency sessions. Behavioral health professionals can use CPT codes for crisis. Crisis codes are mainly used to report the condition of patients in great distress who require immediate attention or are in a life-threatening situation.

• The CPT code 90839 is the principal code for a crisis psychotherapy session requiring urgent assessment and history of the crisis state, mental status exam, and disposition.
• If the crisis session falls below 60 minutes, a regular psychotherapy code such as 90834 would be used.
• If this crisis psychotherapy session lasts longer than 60 minutes, then the add on code 90840 can be billed for each additional 30 minutes of psychotherapy for crisis.

I hope this helps, but always remember that documentation and a thorough knowledge of payer regulations and guidelines is critical to ensure accurate reimbursement for the procedures performed.