Quickly learn how to make sure your individual psychotherapy sessions get paid with United Health Care 90837 CPT code.  

United Health Care, Optum, and United Behavioral Health (UBH) have set limits for CPT code 90837 used by mental health outpatient providers.

CPT code 90837 represents a 60 minute individual therapy session and now requires authorization with UHC.

UHC  does not require authorization for CPT code 90834, a 45 – 55 minute individual therapy session.

If you file to UHC with 90837 without authorization, your claim may be denied.

We help figure out how to handle this by calling the client’s insurance plan and asking if CPT code 90837 requires authorization and we let you know the situation.  For help, reach out about our billing service.  This task is super important which is why we do it for free.

United Health Care 90837 Sessions

Get authorization from United Health Care for 90837 sessions via a phone call:  (800) 888-2998.

UHC sets limits on the number of  90837 sessions and provides you a unique authorization number for your approved sessions.

File your CMS1500 forms with that auth number!

Call before your auth expires for more 90837 sessions.

Ignore 90837 Authorization, Use 90834 with UHC

Most providers we know prefer to file with 90834.  The increased hassle isn’t worth the time for their practice.  Filing to United Health Care 90837 vs 90834 is your call.

And if you need help, drop us a line to talk about our mental health billing service.

UHC Oxford, New UHC 90837 Authorization Changes

As of 2019, some United Health Care and Optum plans have switched to allowing 60 minute individual therapy sessions without authorization, using CPT code 90837.  Some plans still do require authorization.

To make sure you know what’s going on with your particular client, call the back of their insurance card to verify their benefits.  During your call, ask about authorization requirements for 60 minute psychotherapy sessions using code 90837 and they will let you know.  We do this for you in our insurance billing service as well!