Psychiatry Coding & Reimbursement Alert

Answer:If you look at the descriptor to 96101 (Psychological testing [includes psychodiagnostic assessment of emotionality, intellectual abilities, personality and psychopathology, e.g., MMPI, Rorschach, WAIS], per hour of the psychologist’s or physician’s time, both face-to-face time administering tests to the patient and time interpreting these test results and preparing the report), you will see that it is a time-based code that includes time spent face-to-face with the patient as well as time for interpretation of the test.

 

When reporting psychological testing, you can report the appropriate units of 96101 depending on the total amount of time your clinician spent administering the test and the interpretations of the test. You can collate the total time spent on both the services and claim for the appropriate units of 96101. You will have to use the date on which the test was administered as the date of service.