Billing code 90832: Psychotherapy sessionMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $85.84 for 90832 nationally in the office and $69.47 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $82.76–$119.44.

Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.

What 90832 covers

This service involves individual psychotherapy for a mental health condition, using approaches such as cognitive behavioral, supportive, or insight-oriented therapy. The patient participates, and a family member or caregiver may join part of the session when the treatment remains focused on the patient. Psychologists, clinical social workers, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and psychiatrists provide this care in offices, outpatient clinics, inpatient settings, and through appropriate telehealth encounters.

Select 90832 based on 16 through 37 minutes of psychotherapy with the patient. At 38 minutes, consider 90834; at 53 minutes, consider 90837. Document psychotherapy time separately from any other service, along with the therapeutic approach, clinical focus, patient response, and progress toward treatment goals. If the same clinician also performs a separately identifiable E/M service during the encounter, report the appropriate E/M code with psychotherapy add-on 90833 instead of 90832. Interactive complexity add-on 90785 may accompany 90832 when its specific communication criteria are met and documented.

This summary was written with AI assistance from CMS physician fee schedule data and checked against the CMS billing rules shown here. Rates on this page come directly from CMS files.

Where 90832 pays more and less

The same RVUs, adjusted for each area’s costs. Open a locality for its calculation, history and nearby areas.

109 of 109 payment localities

90832 rates by state

Office rate range in each state. Select a state to see its payment localities.

How the 90832 rate is calculated

Each of 90832’s three RVUs is multiplied by a geographic index (GPCI) for the payment locality, added up, and multiplied by the conversion factor. Drag the indexes or enter a ZIP to see what moves the rate.

Payment rules and modifiers for 90832

90832 has no global surgery period, no multiple-procedure, bilateral or assistant-at-surgery adjustment, and no professional/technical split. What changes the payment is where the service happens: the place of service on the claim decides whether Medicare pays the office or the facility rate.

90832 compared with similar codes

How to choose

90834Psychotherapy session

Both are standalone individual psychotherapy. Use 90832 for 16 through 37 minutes and 90834 for 38 through 52 minutes.

90833Psychotherapy with E/M

90833 is a psychotherapy add-on reported with a separately performed E/M service by the same clinician. Use 90832 for the psychotherapy encounter without that E/M service.

90839Crisis psychotherapy

90839 requires urgent crisis assessment and intervention and sufficient crisis psychotherapy time. Use 90832 for a 16- through 37-minute individual psychotherapy encounter that does not meet those crisis criteria.

90847Family therapy

90847 is family psychotherapy with the patient present. Use 90832 when treatment focuses on the individual patient, even if a family member participates.

Codes related to 90832

Related codes aren’t interchangeable: bill the code that matches the service performed.

Where these rates come from

FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indexes and the conversion factor. Services without a published rate are labeled, never given a made-up amount. Amounts are Medicare allowed amounts before claim adjustments: not a patient’s bill or a commercial rate.

CMS RVU26D · effective Oct 1, 2026 through the day before Jan 1, 2027

Open CMS sourceHow we calculate rates