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90847 Family Psychotherapy--Need clarification

ebrennan2

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The facility that I do billing for has a particular psychiatrist who bills 90847 quite frequently.

I mostly see this when the patient is a minor and the mother/father is present during the visit who help provide history, medication or behavioral updates (example: "Mother reports increased irritability), etc. The psychiatrist also lists a review of systems, a mental status exam, history and plan in her notes.

To me, it would seem more appropriate to bill an E&M code rather than 90847 only. Thoughts? I'm getting really frustrated with this as not a lot of insurances will cover 90847/46. When I think of psychotherapy, I was told this is more "talk therapy" where the psychiatrist discusses coping mechanisms etc.

Note: These visits are done in a partial hospitalization setting
 
Psychiatrist E/M codes

The psychiatrist should be billing E/M codes, not psychotherapy. If they do med management and then psychotherapy with patient they can use the proper add on psychotherapy code.
 
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