How much does Medicare pay for CPT 90839?

Medicare allowed an average of $113.12 per service and paid $86.71 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $548.62, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 90839?

Psychotherapy for crisis, first hour. It was billed 7,382 times to 5,567 Medicare beneficiaries by 237 providers in 2024.

Does 90839 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $117.98 in an office setting and $111.06 in a facility. The office rate is generally higher because the practice supplies the room, staff and equipment out of that single payment; in a hospital those are billed separately by the facility.

Which specialty bills 90839 most?

Licensed Clinical Social Worker, with 2,874 services from 108 clinicians. Next are Psychiatry, Licensed Professional Counselor, Psychologist, Clinical.

CPT 90839

Psychotherapy for crisis, first hour

$113.12Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 7,382 services

Providers submitted

$548.62

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$113.12

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$86.71

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $548.62 for this code and Medicare allowed $113.12 — 4.8× less. That gap is normal and means nothing on its own: Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of what is billed, so the submitted figure describes a hospital chargemaster, not a price anyone paid. Of the allowed amount Medicare paid $86.71 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $117.98
Hospital / facility: $111.06

The office rate is higher because the practice supplies the room, staff and equipment out of that payment. In a hospital the facility bills those separately, so the clinician's share is smaller — the total cost to Medicare is usually higher, not lower. 2,194 services were billed in an office setting and 5,188 in a facility.

Services: 7,382
Beneficiaries: 5,567
Providers billing it: 237
Total allowed: $835,052

What Medicare pays for CPT 90839

Across 7,382 services billed by 237 providers to 5,567 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $113.12 per service. That is 1.3 services per beneficiary, so this is a code patients typically receive more than once. The allowed amount is the figure that matters: it is what Medicare and the patient together owe, set by the fee schedule and adjusted for local practice costs. What a provider chose to submit has no bearing on it.

Who bills 90839

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Licensed Clinical Social Worker	2,874	2,172	$99.61	108
Psychiatry	2,045	1,512	$137.72	45
Licensed Professional Counselor	1,207	1,079	$94.86	48
Psychologist, Clinical	460	324	$136.00	17
Nurse Practitioner	412	154	$126.91	5
Marriage and Family Therapist	344	288	$95.92	12
Physician Assistant	40	38	$120.26	2

90839 reimbursement by state

Two different numbers. Allowed is what Medicare actually allowed in that state, which includes the local practice-cost adjustment. Standardized strips that geographic adjustment out of the payment, so it is the column to use when comparing states — a difference there reflects how the code was billed, not what it costs to run a practice locally.

State	Services	Allowed	Standardized pmt	Providers
California	1,969	$131.15	$92.04	42
Arizona	1,461	$104.12	$84.54	34
Minnesota	588	$95.59	$75.69	27
New Hampshire	451	$106.73	$84.68	7
Indiana	364	$94.87	$71.38	21
Maine	272	$97.41	$73.16	14
Virginia	236	$98.54	$75.73	8
Maryland	228	$123.09	$92.36	8
Michigan	206	$123.88	$88.85	6
New York	163	$123.07	$86.41	5
Connecticut	125	$101.26	$71.26	5
North Carolina	119	$122.90	$96.91	4
Texas	107	$107.46	$85.53	4
Florida	99	$133.40	$104.76	4
Colorado	96	$96.35	$67.52	7
Rhode Island	91	$133.25	$90.71	2
Ohio	85	$108.84	$82.83	5
New Jersey	79	$117.30	$85.87	1
Oklahoma	65	$96.51	$84.80	3
Vermont	64	$106.40	$83.63	4
Montana	64	$95.59	$71.81	3
Pennsylvania	61	$128.27	$90.61	4
Illinois	54	$99.45	$78.71	3
Louisiana	53	$127.72	$90.28	3
Oregon	49	$103.61	$78.52	2
Massachusetts	44	$96.71	$74.02	2
Alaska	44	$169.33	$95.35	1
Arkansas	36	$102.93	$83.47	1
Wisconsin	28	$92.86	$73.03	2
Nevada	26	$110.75	$97.54	1
Washington	15	$109.30	$73.85	1
Iowa	15	$97.77	$81.78	1
Kentucky	13	$92.69	$84.98	1
Missouri	12	$93.18	$63.30	1

Related codes

90837Psychotherapy$127.42
90834Psychotherapy$88.04
90832Psychotherapy$65.95
90833Psychotherapy$64.86
90836Psychotherapy$88.70
90868Treatment using magnetic field to stimulate nerve cells in brain, subs$183.83
90853Group psychotherapy$23.01
90870Therapy using electrical currents$103.73
90838Psychotherapy$113.05
90847Family psychotherapy$92.01
90846Family psychotherapy without patient$83.43
90867Treatment using magnetic field to stimulate nerve cells in brain, init$285.49

Billing this code is not the same as earning it

An allowed amount is revenue to a practice, not income to a clinician. It funds staff, premises, equipment and supplies before anyone is paid. What clinicians actually earn is published separately by the Department of Labor, and what industry pays them is published separately again by CMS — this site carries both.

What doctors are paid →·Look up a clinician →·All procedure codes →

Where this comes from. CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, by Provider and Service, 2024. It covers fee-for-service Original Medicare Part B only — not Medicare Advantage, not Medicaid, and not commercial insurance, which typically pays more for the same code.

How it is averaged. CMS publishes one average per provider per code. Every figure here is re-weighted by the number of services, so a clinician who billed the code 4,000 times counts 4,000 times more than one who billed it twice. CMS also suppresses any provider-code pair with fewer than 11 beneficiaries, so low-volume practice is missing from these totals by design.