The new issue of the *Psychiatric News* (vol. 44, #22) Includes a Q & A
from the American Psychiatric Association’s HelpLine Database on how to
bill for phone therapy.

Key points are:

1) There is no CPT code for conducting psychotherapy over the telephone.

2) All the psychotherapy codes are described as face to face with the patient.

3) The only appropriate code to use would be 90899, “unlisted psychiatric
service or procedure.”

If you use this code, you should provide documentation describing that
it is for psychotherapy over the telephone. This could could also be used for other unlisted psychiatric services or procedures, e.g. outcomes assessment using a standard instrument.

There are timed codes for E/M services provided on the telephone (99441:5-10 minutes; 99442: 11-20 minutes; 99443: 21-30 minutes). These codes can be used for medical discussion with a patient for whom you have not provided an E/M service within the past seven days and whom you would not be seeing for the reason discussed in the call.