Mental Health CMS Practice Test 2026 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

Family therapy is coded separately from individual or group therapy to reflect the focus on the interactions within a family system. The appropriate CPT codes for family therapy are 90846 and 90847. They specifically designate sessions that involve family members as the unit of care, with one code used when the patient is not present and the other when the patient is present in the session. This distinction helps capture how the session is conducted and who is participating.

Other options fit different services: 90853 is for group psychotherapy (not family therapy), 90791 is an initial psychiatric evaluation or intake, and 90832 is an individual psychotherapy session. So for family therapy, the codes you’d use are the ones that explicitly reflect family-focused sessions.