CPT 90840: Psychotherapy for Crisis, Add-On 30 Minutes
Medicare pays $79 and commercial payers pay $87 on average nationally for this procedure.
CPT code 90840 is an add‑on psychotherapy-for-crisis service describing an additional 30 minutes of face‑to‑face crisis psychotherapy provided after the initial crisis intervention; service type: add‑on crisis psychotherapy; typical site of service: outpatient behavioral health or emergency/acute care settings where immediate life‑threatening psychiatric crisis management is delivered.
For related coverage guidance, see recent payer policy updates: Fixed Wing Air Ambulance Transport, Air Ambulance, Ambulance Services (for New Mexico Only).
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National Reimbursement Benchmarks
Across national payers, Medicare and BUCA (average commercial) sit near each other on mean reimbursement for CPT 90840: Medicare's mean is $79.4 and BUCA's mean is $87.3, a modest gap of $7.9 favoring BUCA. That closeness suggests commercial average rates are only slightly higher than Medicare at the national level for this code.
Dispersion varies notably by payer when measured as P75 minus P25: Aetna's interquartile range is $18.4, Blue Cross Blue Shield's is $25.0, BUCA's is $36.6, Cigna's is $50.0, and UnitedHealth Group's is $65.3. UnitedHealth Group shows the widest IQR at $65.3, indicating substantial variability, while Aetna is the tightest at $18.4, indicating more concentrated rates around the middle.