M1350 Suicide Safety Plan HCPCS Reimbursement | OpenPayer

Summary & Overview

HCPCS M1350: Suicide Safety Plan Initiation, Review, or Update

HCPCS Level II code M1350 documents that a patient received a completed suicide safety plan that was initiated, reviewed, or updated in collaboration with a clinician at or within 24 hours of the index encounter. This code captures a targeted safety-planning intervention used in acute and ambulatory behavioral health contexts and supports clinical documentation of risk mitigation activities. Nationally, standardized capture of safety planning is important for care coordination, quality measurement, and tracking delivery of suicide prevention interventions across care settings.

Key payers included in the analysis are Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find an overview of the code’s clinical intent, expected service settings, common modifier usage (listed separately), and implications for claims processing. The publication also outlines benchmarks and payment policy considerations relevant to major payers, describes typical documentation elements associated with the service, and highlights areas where coding clarity affects quality reporting and care coordination. Data not available in the input is noted where applicable.

AetnaBlue Cross Blue ShieldCigna HealthUnitedHealthcareMedicareM1350HCPCS Level IIsuicide safety planbehavioral healthrisk mitigationclinical documentationemergency departmentinpatient psychiatryoutpatient mental health

Billing Code Overview

HCPCS Level II code M1350 denotes that a patient had a completed suicide safety plan that was initiated, reviewed, or updated in collaboration with their clinician either concurrently with or within 24 hours of the index clinical encounter. The service reflects the clinical activity of creating or revising a documented safety plan as part of immediate suicide risk mitigation and care planning.

Service type: Suicide safety planning (initiation, review, or update) conducted in collaboration with a clinician
Typical site of service: Behavioral health or general medical settings where acute risk assessment and safety planning occur, including emergency departments, inpatient psychiatric units, outpatient mental health clinics, and primary care encounters

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

A typical patient scenario involves an adult or adolescent presenting to an outpatient behavioral health clinic, primary care office, urgent care, or emergency department with acute suicidal ideation, a recent suicide attempt, or escalating suicide risk identified during a routine mental health visit. The treating clinician (psychiatrist, psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, psychiatric nurse practitioner, or other qualified behavioral health clinician) conducts a risk assessment and, when indicated, collaborates with the patient to create, review, or update a written suicide safety plan. The safety plan is completed during the index clinical encounter or within 24 hours of it and documents warning signs, internal coping strategies, social contacts and professional resources, ways to make the environment safer, and a plan for seeking emergency help.

Typical clinical workflow:

Patient presents with suicidal ideation or related risk factors.
Clinician performs a focused suicide risk assessment, documents findings, and determines need for a safety plan.
Clinician and patient co-create or review an individualized suicide safety plan; family or support persons may be included with consent.
Safety plan is signed and placed in the medical record; crisis resources and follow-up appointments are arranged.
If necessary, care coordination is initiated (e.g., referral to higher level of care, safety interventions, or hospitalization).

Coding Specifications

HCPCS M1151: Heart Transplant Status or LVAD Support

HCPCS-M1237-PATIENT-REASON-NOT-SCREENING-SOCIAL-NEEDS

HCPCS M1237: Patient Reason for Not Completing Social Needs Screening

HCPCS-M1264-AGE-75-OR-OLDER-AT-DIALYSIS-INITIATION

HCPCS M1264: Patients Age 75 or Older at Dialysis Initiation

HCPCS-M1454-NEW-CIED-CLINICAL-ITEM-DEVICE

HCPCS M1454: New Clinical Item or Device

HCPCS-M1279-ELEVATED-BLOOD-PRESSURE-READING-NO-FOLLOW-UP-DOCUMENTED

HCPCS Level II M1279: Elevated Blood Pressure Reading, No Follow-Up Documented

HCPCS-M1447-BIPOLAR-DISORDER-DIAGNOSIS-MEASURE

HCPCS Level II M1447: Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis Measure

HCPCS-M1251-PROXY-COMPLETED-HEALTH-SURVEY

HCPCS Level II M1251: Proxy-Completed Patient Health Survey

HCPCS-M1387-PATIENT-DEATH-DURING-PERFORMANCE-PERIOD

HCPCS Level II M1387: Patient Death During Performance Period

HCPCS-M1364-ASCVD-10-YEAR-RISK-20-PERCENT-OR-GREATER

HCPCS Level II M1364: 10-Year ASCVD Risk Score ≥20%

HCPCS-M1383-ACUTE-PERIPHERAL-VASCULAR-DISEASE-ASSESSMENT

HCPCS M1383: Acute Peripheral Vascular Disease Assessment

Showing 1–10 of 356

Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
`103K00000X`	Psychiatrist	Medical doctors specializing in diagnosis and management of mental disorders; commonly complete safety plans for high-risk patients.
`103T00000X`	Psychologist	Provide psychotherapy and risk assessment; often collaborate on safety planning.
`1041C0700X`	Clinical Social Worker	Licensed clinical social workers frequently develop and document safety plans and coordinate follow-up care.
`363L00000X`	Nurse Practitioner, Psychiatric-Mental Health	Psychiatric NPs perform assessments and create or update safety plans in many settings.
`3336C0002X`	Counselor	Licensed professional counselors or addiction counselors may document safety plans as part of behavioral health care.

Related Diagnoses

ICD-10 Code	Description	Clinical Relevance
`F32.9`	Major depressive disorder, single episode, unspecified	Depression with suicidal ideation commonly prompts creation or review of a safety plan.
`F33.1`	Major depressive disorder, recurrent, moderate	Recurrent depression increases suicide risk and necessitates explicit safety planning.
`F41.1`	Generalized anxiety disorder	Severe anxiety can be associated with suicidal ideation and benefit from a safety plan.
`R45.851`	Suicidal ideation	Direct indication for initiating or updating a suicide safety plan.
`T14.91`	Suicide attempt, initial encounter	Recent attempt requires immediate safety planning and documentation within 24 hours of the encounter.

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`90791`	Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation (without medical services)	Often performed before or during which a suicide risk assessment leads to creation or update of a safety plan.
`90792`	Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation with medical services (e.g., with medication management)	Used when medical evaluation and medication considerations accompany the safety planning process.
`90832`	Psychotherapy, 30 minutes with patient	Short psychotherapy visits that may include safety plan review or initiation as part of treatment.
`90834`	Psychotherapy, 45 minutes with patient	Typical therapy session length in which a safety plan may be developed or reviewed collaboratively.
`99406`	Smoking and tobacco use cessation counseling (intermediate)	Example of a brief behavioral intervention CPT code; included here as another brief intervention code that may be billed in parallel, though not directly related to safety planning.

`22`	Increased Procedural Services	Use when the work required to develop or document the safety plan is substantially greater than typical, with documented justification.
`23`	Unusual Anesthesia	Not typically applicable; include only if unusual anesthesia-related circumstances occurred during associated procedures.
`52`	Reduced Services	Use when the safety plan service was partially reduced or not completed as originally planned.
`53`	Discontinued Procedure	Use if the safety plan process was started but discontinued due to patient transfer or sudden change in clinical status.
`54`	Surgical Care Only	Not applicable to behavioral health safety planning; generally not used.
`55`	Postoperative Management Only	Not applicable to safety plan services.
`56`	Preoperative Management Only	Not applicable to safety plan services.
`62`	Two Surgeons	Not applicable; do not use for behavioral health encounters.
`AS`	Ambulatory Service	Use when the safety plan is provided in an ambulatory/outpatient setting.
`CO`	Worker’s Compensation	Use when the encounter is related to worker’s compensation payor rules.
`CQ`	Service Documented, Procedure Not Performed	Use if the documentation supports the service but the physical safety plan document was not completed.
`FX`	Local Coverage Determination Exclusion	Use per payer-specific LCA/LCD rules when required by the payor.
`FY`	Benefit Category	Use if required to indicate service falls under a specific benefit category per payor rules.
`QX`	CRNA Service with Physician Absence	Not applicable to this behavioral health service.

OpenPayer