Does insurance cover ART?

Insurance does not pay for Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) as its own item, because there is no insurance billing code for ART. When a licensed clinician provides ART and bills insurance, the session is billed as psychotherapy, with the same codes used for any other therapy session. Whether your plan pays, and how much, depends on your outpatient mental health benefits, your deductible, any authorization rules, and how long the session runs.

How ART shows up on an insurance claim

Psychotherapy billing codes describe what kind of service it was and how long it lasted. They do not name a method. A session of ART, EMDR or ordinary conversation-based therapy of the same length is billed the same way.

Medicare’s billing guidance sets out these time bands for individual psychotherapy without a medical visit:

• 90832: 16 to 37 minutes
• 90834: 38 to 52 minutes
• 90837: 53 minutes or more, usually described as the “60-minute” code

Time means face-to-face time with you. Your plan pays only for care it considers medically necessary, and what counts as necessary is set by the plan, not by the therapist.

The session-length problem

ART sessions tend to be longer than a standard therapy hour. In the published studies they ran about 60 to 75 minutes (Kip 2012; Storey 2024). In my practice an ART session often runs longer than a standard 50-minute session, and we agree the length before we book it.

That creates a billing gap. The longest standard psychotherapy code covers 53 minutes or more. Until 2023 there were add-on “prolonged service” codes for extra time, but those were deleted on 1 January 2023, and the American Psychological Association’s billing staff said at the time that they were looking for ways to close the gap. Since then the guidance has not been consistent: Medicare contractors word the rules differently, and one pays for psychotherapy over 90 minutes only when the record documents the face-to-face time and why the extra time was medically necessary.

The practical upshot: a longer ART session may be only partly covered, or the extra time may not be covered at all. It depends on your plan, so check with your plan before you assume either way.

Prior authorization, and what it does not promise

Some plans want to approve certain care in advance. HealthCare.gov defines preauthorization (also called prior authorization, prior approval or precertification) as a decision by your plan that a service or treatment plan is medically necessary. It also points out that approval does not guarantee the plan will pay.

Some plans ask for this before longer or more frequent sessions. If yours does, find out who requests it and get it in place before the session rather than after.

What to ask your plan: a short script

Call the member services number on the back of your card. Say you want to check your benefits for outpatient psychotherapy with a licensed professional counselor. You do not need to say “ART”, because the plan will not have a separate answer for it. Write down the date, the name of the person you spoke to and a reference number.

1. “Do I have outpatient mental health benefits, and are they managed by a separate company?” Some plans hand behavioral health to a different company with its own network and rules.
2. “Is this provider in network for my specific plan?” Give the practice name and the clinician’s name. A directory listing is not a benefits check.
3. “What is my deductible, how much have I met, and what will I owe per session in dollars?” Coinsurance is a percentage, so ask for the dollar figure.
4. “Is there a limit on the length of an individual psychotherapy session? How is a session longer than 60 minutes handled?” This is the ART-specific question. Ask whether anything over the 60-minute code (90837) is paid, and whether it needs approval first.
5. “Do I need a referral or prior authorization for outpatient psychotherapy?” If the answer is yes, ask who has to request it and how long it takes.
6. “Is there a limit on the number or frequency of sessions?” Some plans cap visits per year or per week.
7. “Is telehealth covered the same way as in-person sessions?” Worth confirming, even though for a first course of ART I generally recommend meeting in person.

The general version of this list, with more on deductibles and copays, is on the rates and insurance page.

Using insurance for ART with me

The practice is in network with Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, TRICARE, Humana Military and TriWest, and bills them directly. Each has its own page with plan-specific notes: Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, TRICARE, Humana Military and TriWest.

Being in network means a rate has been agreed with the plan. It does not mean your policy covers a given session. Your deductible, your benefit design and any authorization rules decide that, and only your plan can tell you. Because ART sessions are often longer than a standard session, we talk about length and what that may mean for your plan before your first ART session.

Paying privately

Private pay is $130 for a standard 50-minute individual session. ART sessions often run longer, so the length and fee for an ART session are agreed before you book. Rates are current as of September 2026 and may change.

If you are uninsured or choose not to use insurance, the federal No Surprises Act gives you the right to a written Good Faith Estimate of expected costs before care starts. You can ask for one.