Clinical psychologists and neuropsychologists whose practices focus on the delivery of testing evaluation and face-to-face test administration and scoring services are facing substantial challenges during the COVID-19 national crisis.
On March 30, 2020 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved many of APA's recommendations for expanding telehealth coverage including allowing the provision of psychological and neuropsychological testing services via telehealth.
As psychologists continue to work on developing new methods of providing psychological and neuropsychological care via telehealth, APA offers the following suggestions:
- If the case is a "medical" diagnosis — one involving a neurological condition — psychologists should conduct a Neurobehavioral Status Examination and bill code 96116. Note that at this time CMS has not approved the add-on code 96121 for usage via telehealth (though APA has requested its inclusion). When providing testing services, use Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes 96132-96133 and 96136-96139, as indicated for Neuropsychological Testing. Please note that these are timed codes.
- For cases regarding mental health diagnosis (e.g., DSM), psychologists should use the Psychiatric Diagnostic Evaluation code 90791. Please note that this is an untimed code. When providing testing services, use CPT codes 96130-96131 and 96136-96139, as indicated for psychological testing. Please note that these are timed codes.