Medicare Payments for Part B Mental Health Services
August, 2008 As recommended by the Office of Inspector Generals (OIGs) April 2007 report, this special edition article is being provided to explain Medicare's guidelines for payment of Part B mental health services including: qualification requirements for mental health providers; incident to services; reasonable and necessary services; reasonable expectation of improvement; general principles of medical record documentation; documentation guidelines for evaluation and management (E&M) services involving a general psychiatric examination or the single system psychiatric examination; and documentation guidelines for psychiatric diagnostic or evaluative interview procedures, psychiatric therapeutic procedures, central nervous system assessment, and health and behavior . . .
