abcd45...
According to this page from the Medicare Carriers Manual,
which is in current use:
"A review of 1988 CHAMPUS program data shows that psychiatrist
prevailing charges for a 1-hour psychotherapy session range
from a low of $70 to a high of $130, with a median charge of
$90. For psychologists, prevailing charges range from $65 to
$114.40 hourly, with a median charge of $80. The fee
differential between the two professions is 11 percent, i.e.,
the median psychologist prevailing charge amounts to
approximately 89 percent of the median psychiatrist fee."
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/14_car/3b5111.asp
I worked in the mental health field for 20+ years, so I can
assure you that these rates represent relatively current
information. The rates for psychologists will be lower than
the comparable rates for a psychiatrist, and, though there
may be certain individual psychiatrists who now charge more
than the $130 high on which this manual is based, they are
relatively rare. The high today might be around $180 to $200,
but there are still therapists who will be charging at the
low end of the spectrum. You should be aware that an "hour"
session is, by definition, is 45-50 minutes in length, but
an initial evaluation usually lasts longer.
A good thing to explore is whether the therapist will work
on a "sliding scale" basis, which will base their fee on
your annual income. This is a very workable solution for
many people.
You specified private psychiatrists, but you should consider
that there are public services available through DC's DMH,
or Department of Mental Health, by way of which you can
access an initial evaluation and ongoing therapy which may
cost you less.
Here's the website containing the three D.C. sites you can use:
http://www.dmh.dc.gov/dmh/cwp/view,a,3,q,515854,dmhNav,|31250|.asp
If you are eligible, CHAMPUS may help cover the costs:
"CHAMPUS is a health benefits program that covers medical
necessities only. It provides authorized in-patient and
out-patient care from civilian sources, on a cost-sharing
basis. Retired military are eligible, as well as
dependents of active-duty, retired and deceased military.
Contact a Health Benefits Advisor at any of the major
commands in the Washington area (clinic or hospital) for
the most up-to-date information on program details."
http://www.ndw.navy.mil/Newcomers/Medical/champus.html
CHAMPUS also maintains a list of Maximum Allowable Charges
which is an excellent guideline for the maximum fee you
can expect to pay, and is used by many organizations in
addition to Medicare:
http://www.tricare.osd.mil/cmac/
Inputting the Procedure Code of 90801 for Psychiatric
Diagnostic Interview returns the following data for
the Washington, D.C. area:
CMAC for Category 1 $156.34
Category of Provider Facility Physician
CMAC for Category 2 $167.34
Category of Provider Non-Facility Physician
CMAC for Category 3 $117.25
Category of Provider Facility Non-Physician
CMAC for Category 4 $125.50
Category of Provider Non-Facility Non-Physician
A private psychiatrist would be a Non-Facility Physician.
A private psychologist would be a Non-Facility Non-Physician.
Keeping in mind that these are Maximum Allowable Charges, this
gives you a good idea of what you can expect to pay for an
initial evaluation.
The Provider Categories are explained in depth here:
http://www.tricare.osd.mil/cmac/index.cfm?fuseaction=help.CAT
Subsequent sessions would come under a different
Procedure Code. You can get an idea of some of the
possible codes from this page on Wisconsin's Dept
of Health and Family Services page (the same codes
are used on a national basis according to the new
HIPAA guidelines):
http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/medicaid4/maxfees/html/mhproctable.htm
As you can see, the codes differ depending on whether
the psychiatrist is a Ph.D. or a Masters-level therapist,
or a psychiatrist without a doctorate. They also depend
on the length of the session.
A Non-Facility (private) Physician (psychiatrist) using
the Procedure Code (90804) for a 20-30 minute office visit
(half-session) could charge a maximum of $71.59 under these
guidelines.
A Ph.D. using Procedure Code 90812 for a 45-50 minute office
visit (full session) could charge a maximum of $116.24, and
so on.
I believe I've provided you with what you need, but if there's
anything which is unclear, or a link doesn't work for you, just
let me know, and I'll do what I can to clear things up.
Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog
established through the "Request for Clarification" process.
A user's guide on this topic is on skermit-ga's site, here:
http://www.christopherwu.net/google_answers/answer_guide.html#how_clarify
sublime1-ga
Additional information may be found from an exploration of
the links resulting from the Google searches outlined below.
Searches done, via Google:
psychiatrist "hourly rates" "washington, dc" -lawyer -attorney
://www.google.com/search?q=psychiatrist+%22hourly+rates%22+%22washington%2C+dc%22+-lawyer+-attorney
"psychiatrist fee" "hourly rates" "washington, dc" -lawyer -attorney
://www.google.com/search?q=%22psychiatrist+fee%22+%22hourly+rates%22+%22washington%2C+dc%22+-lawyer+-attorney
champus
://www.google.com/search?q=champus
"procedure code" "psychiatric evaluation"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22procedure+code%22+%22psychiatric+evaluation%22
"public mental health system" "washington, dc"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22public+mental+health+system%22+%22washington%2C+dc%22 |
