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Behavioral & Mental Health Billing Services
Behavioral health billing involves managing payments for mental health and addiction treatment services, including psychiatry, psychology, counseling, substance abuse treatment, addiction recovery programs, and applied behavior analysis (ABA). It’s often more complex than standard medical billing because insurance coverage for behavioral health can be limited, prior authorization is frequently required, and session types, durations, and treatment plans vary widely, making accurate coding essential.
At MZ Medical Billing, we handle the entire process, from verifying patient benefits and obtaining necessary authorizations to applying correct CPT codes, submitting claims, tracking payments, and managing denials. Our goal is to maximize reimbursements, reduce rejections, and ensure your payments are processed quickly and accurately, so you can focus fully on providing care instead of dealing with billing challenges.
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Complete Behavioral Health Billing Solutions for All Specialties
At MZ Medical Billing, we offer a wide range of billing services to support healthcare providers in the behavioral health field. From handling billing for psychiatry and psychology services to coordinating care billing, substance use billing, and team-based collaborative billing, we cover it all.
Our goal is to simplify the billing process, ensuring you get paid correctly and on time, so you can focus on delivering the best care to your patients.
Our services work with 200+ EHR Systems making them a great fit for clinics of any size. Whether you need to verify one patient or many, we’ve got you covered.
Psychiatry & Psychology Billing
We manage billing for services provided by psychiatrists and psychologists. This includes billing for evaluations, therapy sessions, psychological tests, and medication management.
Behavioral Health Coordination Billing
We take care of the billing for assessing patients with psychiatric or substance use challenges and coordinating their care in primary healthcare settings.
Substance Use Billing
Our team handles billing for services related to stopping, diagnosing, or treating substance use problems. Some commonly used billing codes are H0001, H0020, and H0050.
Psychiatric Collaborative Billing
We manage billing for team-based care where a primary care doctor, a behavioral health manager, and a psychiatric specialist work together to support patients with behavioral health issues. Common billing codes for these services include 99492, 99493, and G2214.
Mental Health Billing
We manage payments for services that treat mental health issues like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. Typical billing codes are 90785, 90870, and 90875.
Behavioral Specialist Billing
We handle the billing for services offered by behavioral specialists, which may include behavioral analysis, behavior assessments, and creating behavior action plans. Common codes used are 0362T, 0373T, and 97172
Behavioral Health Billing & Revenue Cycle Management Services
MZ Medical Billing provides complete billing support tailored specifically to the unique needs of behavioral health practices. Our goal is to simplify your billing process, minimize disruptions, and help you focus on delivering exceptional care to your clients.
Verification of Benefits
We deliver a complete Verification of Benefits service designed to remove uncertainty and prevent costly billing surprises. Our process provides:
- Clear information about patient deductibles, co-payments, and out-of-pocket costs.
- Details on policy maximums, benefit limits, and plan-specific requirements.
- Expectation of reimbursements specific to behavioral health services.
- Full assistance with pre-authorization requirements to avoid delays in approvals.
With our experience and database of industry knowledge, we help you anticipate payment outcomes and make informed decisions.
Medical Necessity Analysis
Meeting medical necessity requirements is critical in behavioral health billing. We analyze clinical details provided by your practice to improve the likelihood of approval, resulting in smooth claim submissions for services such as therapy, assessments, and treatment plans.
Utilization Review (UR)
Our Utilization Review services streamline approvals for the care your clients need. We work closely with your staff to present strong cases to insurance payers so your clients can access the treatment they require while securing maximum reimbursements for your practice. We offer both in-house support and outsourced UR services, tailoring our approach to fit your needs.
Denial Management
We tackle insurance claim denials proactively to protect your revenue. Our comprehensive denial management includes:
- Resolving medical necessity denials and correcting payer errors.
- Submitting claims on time to avoid rejection.
- Managing appeals with persistence and expertise to secure successful outcomes.
Our team works to recover denied payments, allowing you to focus on running your practice.
Process Optimization
We don’t just handle billings, we help you optimize your operational processes for long-term success. Our services include:
- Analyzing your intake and billing workflows to identify inefficiencies.
- Correcting mistakes and building reliable procedures to support your revenue cycle.
- Creating systems designed to maintain consistent and predictable cash flow.
By improving your administrative processes, we help your practice stay efficient and financially secure.
Behavioral Health Billing Process with MZ Medical Billing
At MZ Medical Billing, we make the billing process simple and effective for behavioral health practices. Our step-by-step approach makes sure accuracy, speed, and smooth operations for your practice. Here’s how we handle your billing:
Step 1: Collecting Patient Information
We start by gathering all the important details about your patient. This includes their full name, date of birth, contact information, insurance ID, and group number. Our team double-checks this data to avoid mistakes. To be sure everything is correct, we may also take a copy of the patient’s insurance card.
Step 2: Verifying Benefits
Next, we verify the patient’s insurance coverage. We call the insurance provider to confirm benefits for behavioral health services. We check details like deductibles, co-pays, and whether pre-authorizations are needed. This step helps us give your practice clear guidance on coverage and costs.
Step 3: Obtaining Authorizations
When pre-authorization is required, we handle it for you. We will prepare and submit the necessary forms to get approval for services like therapy or counseling. With this step, we help you avoid delays or issues with claims later on.
Step 4: Submitting Accurate Claims
We prepare and submit claims with the correct CPT codes for the services provided. Our team makes sure the claims meet all payer requirements, reducing rejection rates. By focusing on accuracy, we ensure that you get paid quickly and in full.
Step 5: Managing Denials and Follow-Ups
If a claim is denied, we take care of it. Our team gets to the root of the issue, makes corrections, and resubmits the claim. We manage appeals and work to resolve every denial efficiently. This proactive approach helps protect your revenue and save you time.
At MZ Medical Billing, we understand the unique needs of behavioral health practices. Every step of our process is designed to make your billing easier, faster, and stress-free. You can trust us to handle your billing while you focus on your patients.
Common Behavioral Health CPT Codes
Below is a list of common CPT codes used in behavioral health billing. These codes help document the services provided and ensure proper reimbursement.
| CPT Code | Description |
|---|---|
|
96132 |
Psychological testing evaluation services by physician/qualified health professional, each additional hour |
|
90832 |
Psychotherapy, 30 minutes with patient |
|
90837 |
Psychotherapy, 60 minutes with patient |
|
90791 |
Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation |
|
90834 |
Psychotherapy, 45 minutes with patient |
|
90853 |
Group psychotherapy (other than of a multiple-family group) |
|
90840 |
Psychotherapy for crisis; each additional 30 minutes |
|
90839 |
Psychotherapy for crisis; first 60 minutes |
|
96130 |
Psychological testing evaluation services by physician/qualified health professional, first hour |
|
90846 |
Family psychotherapy (without patient present) |
Challenges in Behavioral Health Billing
Billing for behavioral health is difficult. Here are the main problems that providers face:
- Documentation is Hard
Doctors need to write a lot of details. They must explain why treatments are needed and show progress. This takes a lot of time and effort. - Technology Problems
Using computers and billing software can help, but setting them up is expensive and requires training. Sometimes, these systems stop working, which slows everything down. - Complicated Codes
There are many codes for different treatments. Only an expert can pick the right one. Choosing the wrong code can cause billing problems. - Low Payments
Many insurance companies do not pay much for mental health treatments. Sometimes they don’t cover these treatments at all. This creates problems for doctors and patients. - Many Services
Behavioral health has many different treatments, like therapy or medication management. Each treatment has different rules and payment amounts. Doctors must track and record every service carefully. Authorization Rules
Getting permission from insurance companies takes a lot of time. Even if providers do everything right, their requests can still be denied. This makes it hard to continue care for patients.
How MZ Medical Billing Solves These Challenges
At MZ Medical Billing, we make billing easier for you. Here’s how we help:
- Better Documentation
We check all the documents to make sure they
- Technology Made Simple
We use advanced systems to handle your billing. You don’t need to worry about training or fixing software issues – we handle it for you. - Expert Coding
Our team knows all the codes. We choose the right codes for your services so claims are correct. - Help with Insurance
We work with insurance companies to make sure you get paid. We handle low payment issues and try to maximize your reimbursements. - Tracking Services
We organize all your services properly. This stops underpayment and helps you follow the rules. - Easy Authorizations
We manage permission requests and fight denials for you. This allows you to focus on treating your patients.
Behavioral & Mental Health Billing Services for Providers Across All 50 States
MZ Medical Billing delivers expert behavioral and mental health billing and Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) services for providers in all 50 states. Whether you operate a private mental health practice, manage a counseling center, or work as a solo psychiatrist, psychologist, or therapist, we help you maximize reimbursements, reduce claim denials, and accelerate payments while keeping costs affordable. Acting as an extension of your team, our experienced billers provide accurate coding, clean claim submissions, and responsive support, so you can focus on patient care, treatment, and therapy instead of navigating complex billing and insurance processes.
Medical Billing Services for Behavioral Health and Other Specialties
Our experienced behavioral and mental health billing team provides accurate, compliant, and efficient billing solutions not only for mental health and addiction services but also for a broad range of healthcare specialties. We deliver specialty-specific coding, precise claim submission, and revenue cycle management for psychiatry, psychology, counseling, substance abuse treatment, applied behavior analysis (ABA), primary care, cardiology, dermatology, orthopedics, and many more.
Speak to Our Behavioral Health RCM Experts
FAQS
Frequently Asked Questions
What is behavioral health billing, and how is it different from general medical billing?
Behavioral health billing involves submitting insurance claims for services like therapy, counseling, and psychiatric care. Unlike general medical billing, it must follow unique codes and rules specific to mental health. MZ Medical Billing handles these complexities, ensuring accurate and timely claims processing.
What CPT codes are commonly used for behavioral health services?
Common behavioral health CPT codes include:
- 90791 – Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation
- 90832 / 90834 / 90837 – Psychotherapy sessions (30, 45, 60 minutes)
- 90839 / 90840 – Psychotherapy for crisis (first 60 mins / each additional 30 mins)
- 90846 / 90853 – Family and group therapy
- 96130 / 96132 – Psychological testing and evaluation services
How does MZ Medical Billing improve reimbursement rates for behavioral health providers?
We make sure accurate CPT coding, verify insurance eligibility before sessions, obtain pre-authorizations, document medical necessity, and submit clean claims the first time. This reduces denials, shortens payment cycles, and maximizes reimbursements.
Do you handle both in-network and out-of-network behavioral health billing?
Yes. We manage billing for both in-network and out-of-network providers, tailoring our process to meet payer-specific guidelines and ensuring that claims are submitted with the correct coding and documentation.
