Mental health care (outpatient)
Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) covers a wide range of outpatient mental health services, including:
- Safety planning interventions if you’re at risk of suicide or overdose.
- A follow-up phone call after you’re discharged from the emergency department for a behavioral health service or other crisis.
- FDA-cleared digital mental health treatment devices you get from your doctor or certain other qualified mental health providers.
- One depression screening per year. You must get the screening in a primary care doctor’s office or primary care clinic that can provide follow-up treatment and referrals.
- Individual and group psychotherapy with doctors (or with certain other Medicare-enrolled licensed professionals, as the state where you get the services allows).
- Family counseling, if the main purpose is to help with your treatment.
- Testing to find out if you’re getting the services you need and if your current treatment is helping you.
- Psychiatric evaluation.
- Medication management.
- Certain prescription drugs that aren’t usually “self administered” (drugs you would normally take on your own), like some injections.
- Diagnostic tests.
- Partial hospitalization.
- Intensive outpatient program services.
- Mental health services you get as part of substance use disorder treatment.
- A one-time “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit. This visit includes a review of your possible risk factors for depression.
- A yearly “Wellness” visit. Talk to your doctor or other health care provider about changes in your mental health since your last visit.
Your costs in Original Medicare
- You pay nothing for your yearly depression screening if your health care provider accepts assignment .
- After you meet the Part B deductible , you pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for visits to your health care provider to diagnose or treat your condition.
- If you get your services in a hospital outpatient clinic or hospital outpatient department, you may have to pay an additional copayment or coinsurance amount to the hospital.
What it is
Outpatient mental health services involve diagnosing and treating people with mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety. They’re services you usually get outside of a hospital, in these types of settings:
- A doctor’s or other health care provider’s office
- A hospital outpatient department
- A community mental health center
Things to know
Part B covers mental health services and visits with these types of health professionals:
- Psychiatrists or other doctors
- Clinical psychologists
- Clinical social workers
- Clinical nurse specialists
- Nurse practitioners
- Physician assistants
- Marriage & family therapists
- Mental health counselors