2026 Behavioral Health Billing Services

Three code stacks, one patient. Pick the right one before you build the claim.

Short answer: you match the code to the care model, not the diagnosis. Collaborative Care bills a psychiatric consult team. General BHI bills lighter care management. The new digital mental health treatment codes bill an FDA-cleared device. Same depressed patient can qualify for any of the three, and for a given month CMS lets you bill only one care-management track. Here is the matrix that tells them apart.

Team + consultCoCM

Lighter mgmtGeneral BHI

FDA deviceDMHT

// The side-by-side

Collaborative Care vs general BHI vs digital mental health, at a glance

Read the caption first. The care model you can actually staff decides the column. Then the code and the monthly time floor follow.

Psychiatric CoCM

Collaborative Care Model

Primary care keeps the patient. A behavioral health care manager runs the caseload. A psychiatric consultant advises through a registry.

Best for

Moderate-to-severe cases that need psychiatric input without a specialty referral

2026 codes

994929949399494G2214

Monthly time floor

70 min first month, 60 min after. G2214 opens a 30-min alternative.

Team you must have

Treating practitioner + BH care manager + psychiatric consultant

Required tools

Patient registry, validated rating scale (for example PHQ-9), documented consult

General BHI

Behavioral Health Integration

One billing practitioner directs clinical staff who assess, plan, and monitor. No dedicated psychiatric consultant required.

Best for

Practices integrating BH without the full CoCM staffing, or milder presentations

2026 code

99484

Monthly time floor

20 min of clinical staff time per calendar month

Team you must have

Billing physician / QHP directing clinical staff. No separate consultant.

Required tools

Systematic assessment, validated scale, care plan, ongoing monitoring

Digital MH Treatment

DMHT Device Codes

An FDA-cleared digital mental health device, ordered inside an existing treatment plan, plus the clinician time to manage it.

Best for

Patients already in treatment who receive a cleared device (for example a prescription digital therapeutic)

2026 codes

G0552G0553G0554

Monthly time floor

G0552 one-time onboarding. G0553 first 20 min/mo, G0554 each add-on 20 min.

Team you must have

Billing practitioner under whose plan the device is furnished and managed

Required tools

FDA-cleared DMHT device, order tied to an active BH treatment plan, review data

// The full comparison

Eligibility, thresholds, and who bills, line by line

This is the sheet to hand a coder. Every row is a place a denial hides.

Attribute	Collaborative Care (CoCM)	General BHI	Digital MH Treatment (DMHT)
Anchor codes	99492, 99493, 99494 (add-on), G2214	99484	G0552, G0553, G0554 (add-on)
Time to bill	99492: 70 min month 1 · 99493: 60 min later months · 99494: +30 min · G2214: 30 min initial or subsequent	20 min clinical staff time per calendar month	G0552: onboarding encounter · G0553: first 20 min/mo · G0554: each add-on 20 min/mo
Psychiatric consultant required	Yes, dedicated	No	No
Registry / caseload tracking	Required	Recommended, not the billing trigger	Device data review, not a caseload registry
Device required	No	No	Yes, FDA-cleared
Billing period	Per calendar month	Per calendar month	Onboarding once; management per calendar month
Patient consent on file	Yes	Yes	Yes
Same-month conflict	Not with 99484 for the same patient	Not with CoCM for the same patient	Distinct device track; never double-count the same minutes

// The stacking rules

What can ride together in the same month, and what cannot

The single rule under all of it: a minute of clinical staff time is counted once. Pick the track, then protect the time log.

Do not stack

99484  +  99492/99493

General BHI and Collaborative Care are two answers to the same question for the same patient in the same calendar month. Choose the one that matches the care actually delivered. Billing both invites a takeback.

Count once

CoCM / BHI time  vs  DMHT time

DMHT management is device-review time. It is a separate service from care-management time, but the same clinical minute may never be reported under two codes. Keep device-management minutes on their own log.

Add-on, same track

99494  ·  G0554

These are the only true stackers here. 99494 extends a CoCM month in 30-minute blocks. G0554 extends DMHT management in 20-minute blocks. Report each only after the base code's floor is met.

// The decision in 3 questions

Route the patient before the coder touches the claim

Is there a psychiatric consultant on the team?

A dedicated psychiatric consultant advising a care manager through a registry is the CoCM signature. If yes and the time floor is met, you are in the 99492 / 99493 / 99494 (or G2214) lane.

Yes → Collaborative Care

Integrated care, but no consultant?

A billing practitioner directing clinical staff through assessment, care planning, and monitoring, with 20 minutes logged, is general BHI. One code, 99484, per month.

Yes → General BHI

Is an FDA-cleared device in the plan?

If the patient was furnished a cleared digital mental health device inside an active treatment plan, onboard with G0552 and manage with G0553 / G0554, kept separate from any care-management time.

Yes → DMHT codes

The 2026 guidance this maps to

CMS CY2026 Physician Fee Schedule, behavioral health provisions, for the payable code set and supervision terms.

Collaborative Care codes 99492, 99493, 99494 plus G2214 for the monthly psychiatric CoCM service and its 30-minute alternative.

Behavioral Health Integration code 99484 for the general 20-minute monthly care-management service.

Digital mental health treatment (DMHT) device codes G0552, G0553, G0554, the family CMS established in the CY2025 PFS and carries into CY2026, for FDA-cleared devices used within a treatment plan.

The codes are the easy part. Capturing the time and the consent every month is the money.

The gap we see across behavioral health practices is not code selection, it is the monthly proof: the time log that hits the floor, the consultant note, the device order, the consent on file. Our behavioral health billing services build that capture into your workflow, then run the claim and work the denial when a payer questions the track. You keep the clinical model. We make it bill clean, month after month.

Map your BH code stack with ASP-RCM → See behavioral health billing services

This page summarizes 2026 CMS coding structure for planning purposes and is not coding, legal, or reimbursement advice. Confirm current descriptors, time thresholds, supervision rules, and payer policies against the CMS CY2026 Physician Fee Schedule final rule and your contracts before billing. Payer coverage of CoCM, BHI, and DMHT services varies.

Three code stacks, one patient. Pick the right one before you build the claim.

Collaborative Care vs general BHI vs digital mental health, at a glance

Collaborative Care Model

Behavioral Health Integration

DMHT Device Codes

Eligibility, thresholds, and who bills, line by line

What can ride together in the same month, and what cannot

Route the patient before the coder touches the claim

Is there a psychiatric consultant on the team?

Integrated care, but no consultant?

Is an FDA-cleared device in the plan?

The 2026 guidance this maps to

The codes are the easy part. Capturing the time and the consent every month is the money.

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