Psychotherapy and crisis care
Session codes depend on time and on who was in the room, including family sessions with or without the patient. Crisis psychotherapy and safety planning services have their own codes and timing rules.
Therapy, testing, and health behavior codes on one ledger
A psychology practice can bill psychotherapy, psychological testing, and health behavior services in the same week, and each follows different time and documentation rules. Taiga's billing team covers mental health practices, psychology included. It drafts codes from your notes, your treating clinician approves them, and Taiga's team works every denial.
Book a demoThree service lines, three rulebooks
Psychologists often bill across code families that payers review in different ways.
Psychological testing
Testing splits into the evaluation work and test administration, with separate codes when a psychologist or a technician gives the tests. Practices with heavy testing volume should also read the neuropsychology page.
Health behavior services
Health behavior assessment and intervention codes, 96156 through 96171, cover psychological work that supports a medical condition. They suit psychologists embedded with primary care or specialty clinics.
Dividing the work
Your psychologists keep clinical judgment. Billing runs from what they document.
Your practice keeps
Assessments, treatment plans, test interpretation and reports, and final approval of every code before it is submitted.
Taiga takes on
Eligibility checks, claim scrubbing and submission, patient statements, and follow-up on each denial and appeal, low balances included.
Agree up front
Settle who handles testing authorizations, physician-consult documentation for Medicare patients, and credentialing for postdoctoral or newly licensed staff.
Questions for a psychology fit call
De-identified claim examples work best. Leave protected details out of the booking form.
What is your service split?
Estimate the share of therapy sessions, testing batteries, and health behavior visits each month.
Who renders services?
List licensed psychologists, postdoctoral fellows, and testing technicians, with each payer's rules for who can bill.
Where do referrals come from?
Note self-referrals, primary care referrals, and hospital or clinic arrangements that change place of service.
Who this fits
Solo and group psychology practices that bill insurance across therapy and testing and want denials worked by a dedicated team. Open A/R can move to Taiga, or Taiga can run alongside your current setup at first.
Scope note
Medicare's clinical psychologist benefit has its own assignment and consultation rules, and commercial plans set their own testing limits. This page outlines the landscape rather than coverage for any patient.
Questions about psychology billing
Does Taiga work with psychology practices?
Yes. Psychology is part of the mental health work Taiga supports. Bring your service mix and payers so the team can confirm the details.
Do clinical psychologists have to accept assignment with Medicare?
Medicare pays clinical psychologists at 100% of the physician fee schedule only when they accept assignment. Check enrollment status for each psychologist before claims go out.
Do we need to contact the patient's physician for Medicare patients?
Unless the primary care or attending physician referred the patient, CMS asks clinical psychologists to offer a consultation with that physician and document whether the patient agreed. If the patient agrees, the record should show the consult date or the attempt.
Can psychologists bill health behavior codes?
Yes. Codes 96156 through 96171 cover health behavior assessment and intervention for patients whose psychological factors affect a medical condition. The note has to tie the service to that condition.
Bring your psychology service mix
Show Taiga a typical month across therapy, testing, and health behavior work, and see how billing would run.
System guides show possible billing handoffs, not proven specialty compatibility.