Wiki Individual tx and family tx question

[Lauriemma]

I'm relatively new to BH coding and wondered if a patient is coming in, say an adolescent, and the treatment plan has been developed for individual counseling and then the patient's family is seen without the patient present is it appropriate to code the family visit as 90846 Family Psychotherapy w/o pt present?

 

[rhotonscott]

per cpt 'psychotherapy times are for face-to-face services with patientand/or family member The patient must be present forsome or all of the service' Since the adolescent was present for some of the service and family was present I think this qualifies for regular psychotherapy code-just add all the time spent with both adolescent and family to code.