TMPPM 2008 > Texas Medicaid Services > School Health and Related Services (SHARS) > Benefits and Limitations

42.6.8.2 Psychological Services

Psychological services are counseling services provided to help a child with a disability benefit from special education and must be listed in the IEP.

Psychological services must be provided by a licensed psychiatrist, a licensed psychologist, or an LSSP. Nothing in this rule prohibits public schools from contracting with licensed psychologists and licensed psychological associates who are not LSSPs to provide psychological services, other than school psychology, in their areas of competency. School districts may contract for specific types of psychological services, such as clinical psychology, counseling psychology, neuropsychology, and family therapy, that are not readily available from the LSSP who is employed by the school district. Such contracting must be on a short-term or part-time basis and cannot involve the broad range of school psychological services listed in 22 TAC §465.38(1)(B).

All psychological services are billable on an individual (1-96152) or group (1-96153) basis. Session notes are required. Session notes must include the billable start time, billable stop time, total billable minutes, activity performed during the session, student observation, and the related IEP objective.

School districts may receive reimbursement for emergency psychological services as long as the student's IEP includes a behavior improvement plan that documents the need for the emergency services.

Psychological Services Billing Table

Providers must use a 15-minute unit of service for billing.

Refer to: "Billing Units Based on 15 Minutes" .

Important: The recommended maximum billable time for direct psychological therapy (group and/or individual) is a cumulative of one hour per day for nonemergency situations. Providers must maintain documentation of the reasons for the additional time, if more than the recommended maximum time is billed.