Behavioral Health Business May 4, 2023
Medicare improperly paid an estimated $580 million for psychotherapy services during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE).
That’s according to a new audit from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which reported that between March 2020 and February 2021, Medicare Part B paid $1 billion for psychotherapy services, including telehealth services. The audit included 13.5 million psychotherapy sessions.
More than half of those services did not comply with Medicare requirements. Most improper payments were for telehealth services ($348 million), but non-telehealth services also made up a significant portion ($232 million).
In the audit, the OIG selected “stratified random samples of psychotherapy.” These samples included 111 enrollee days for telehealth services and 105 enrollee days for in-person services. Providers only...
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