2020 Medicare Payment Increment for Psychologists
Medicare Payment Increment for Psychologists
Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, psychologists will receive higher payments for providing treatment to Medicare patients who receive services for coping with or managing a physical health condition. CMS issued its approval of the rate increases in the agency’s 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, released Nov. 1, 2019.
CMS noticed psychologists’ efforts, stating in the final rule that the “total number of comments for the HBAI CPT codes are from Psychologists who are uniformly pleased to see that CMS has accepted all of the AMA RUC’s recommended increases for the Health Behaviour Assessment and Intervention (HBAI) services….”
| CPT Code | Code Descriptor | 2020 wRVU |
| Health Behavior Assessment Services | ||
| Assessment or Re-Assessment | ||
| 96156 | Health behavior assessment or re-assessment (i.e., health-focused clinical interview, behavioral observations, clinical decision making) | 2.1 |
| Health Behavior Intervention Services | ||
| Individual Intervention | ||
| 96158 | Health behavior intervention, individual, face-to-face; initial 30 minutes | 1.45 |
| 96159 (Add-on) | Each additional 15 minutes (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure) | 0.5 |
| Group Intervention | ||
| 96164 | Health behavior intervention, group (2 or more patients), face-to-face; initial 30 minutes | 0.21 |
| 96165 (Add-on) | Each additional 15 minutes (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure) | 0.1 |
| Family Intervention with Patient Present | ||
| 96167 | Health behavior intervention, family (with the patient present), face-to-face; initial 30 minutes | 1.55 |
| 96168 (Add-on) | Each additional 15 minutes (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure) | 0.55 |
| Family Intervention without Patient Present | ||
| 9617 | Health behavior intervention, family (without the patient present), face-to-face; initial 30 minutes | 1.5 |
| 96171 (Add-on) | Each additional 15 minutes (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure) | 0.54 |
CPT © Copyright 2021 American Medical Association
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