90832 covers 16 to 37 minutes of psychotherapy
Medicare's 2026 national rate for 90832 is $64.38 for therapists and $85.84 for psychologists. Only the minutes you spend in psychotherapy count toward 90832.
Head of Growth and Operations, JotPsych
Your patient arrives 20 minutes late. You have 30 minutes left for psychotherapy. Bill the session as 90832, and write the 30 minutes in your note.
| Psychotherapy minutes | Code | Therapists | Psychologists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 16 | No psychotherapy code | None | None |
| 16 to 37 | 90832 | $64.38 | $85.84 |
| 38 to 52 | 90834 | $85.43 | $113.90 |
| 53 or more | 90837 | $125.25 | $167.00 |
Time bands per CPT, as quoted in federal audit report A-09-21-03021 (2023); rates from the 2026 Medicare fee schedule files. The psychotherapy minutes in your note pick the code.
- Count the minutes you spend in psychotherapy. Your calendar slot doesn't set the code. Leave out the minutes you spend on scheduling and other tasks outside the therapy.
- Pick the code that matches your minutes. Under CPT, you bill the code with the time closest to the time you spent: 38 to 52 minutes bill as 90834, and 53 minutes or more as 90837. Under 16 minutes, you can't bill psychotherapy at all.
- Put the minutes in the note. Give a start and stop time, or a total such as "30 minutes." For Medicare claims in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the contractor First Coast requires one or the other for 90832. Outside those three places, check your own Medicare contractor's billing rules.
- Bill one unit per session. In a 2023 federal audit of 216 sampled Medicare psychotherapy visits, 12 billed more services than the provider gave, and 4 carried the wrong code. One provider billed 30 units of 90832 for one session, because its billing system counted the minutes as units. Auditors found $1,138 of the $1,202 Medicare paid unallowable.
What 90832 pays at each payer
Medicare's figure is its 2026 national rate for therapists; the commercial figures are PayerPrice national averages, August 2026, one per payer with no split by clinician type. Compare your contracted 90832 rate from each payer with that payer's bar.
Therapists, meaning clinical social workers, mental health counselors, and marriage and family therapists, get 75% of the psychologist rate. Medicare's 2026 national rates for 90832 rose 8.8% from 2025 for therapists and psychologists. Of the four commercial payers, UnitedHealthcare averages the least, at $70.91, and Cigna the most, at $103.40, per PayerPrice.
Ask any payer whose average tops your contracted 90832 rate for at least that average at your next contract renewal.
Pick Set manually under Time on note & claim in JotPsych, and enter the psychotherapy's start time and duration.
Book 15 minutes- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files, RVU25A (released 2025-01-10) and RVU26A (released 2025-12-29): national non-facility rates.
- First Coast Service Options, Billing and Coding: Psychiatric Diagnostic Evaluation and Psychotherapy Services (A57520), version 43, revision effective January 1, 2025, read October 2, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Medicare Improperly Paid Providers for Some Psychotherapy Services, Including Those Provided via Telehealth, During the First Year of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, report A-09-21-03021, May 2, 2023.
- CMS, Medicare Learning Network, Medicare & Mental Health Coverage, booklet MLN1986542, March 2026, pages 13 to 24: physicians and psychologists paid 100% of the fee schedule amount, nurse practitioners 85%, and clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors 75% of the psychologist amount.
- PayerPrice, CPT 90832 Fee Schedule by Payer: national payer-file averages, verified August 2026.