TRICARE psychotherapy coverage: limits, who can bill and referrals
The short answerTRICARE covers office-based outpatient psychotherapy that is medically or psychologically necessary. Certified clinical social workers, certified marriage and family therapists and TRICARE certified mental health counselors are listed provider types. Individual sessions are covered up to 60 minutes.
By Javier Alvarez · Updated · 1 min read
1 row: TRICARE. Public policy, not the member's benefits.
TRICARE
TRICARE mental health pages (tricare.mil) · All states
| Where it applies | TRICARE covers office-based outpatient psychotherapy when medically or psychologically necessary to treat a mental health disorder. Individual, family or conjoint, and group sessions are covered. TRICARE covers marriage counseling only when needed to treat a diagnosed mental disorder. [1] |
|---|---|
| Visit limits | Individual sessions are covered up to 60 minutes (individual crisis sessions up to 120 minutes). Regular family or conjoint sessions are covered up to 90 minutes (crisis sessions up to 180 minutes). Group sessions are covered up to 90 minutes. [1] |
| Referral | Prime enrollees need no referral or pre-authorization for outpatient visits with a network psychiatrist or psychologist, except for psychoanalysis and outpatient therapy for substance use disorder. Active duty members must get a referral and pre-authorization to see a civilian provider. [2] |
| Who can bill | TRICARE's provider-type list includes clinical psychologists, certified clinical social workers (master's in social work with psychotherapy training) and certified marriage and family therapists (must agree to participate in TRICARE). TRICARE certified mental health counselors need no referral or physician oversight. Supervised mental health counselors and pastoral counselors need a referral from a medical doctor and physician oversight. [3] |
| Medicare rules | For TRICARE For Life, Medicare's rules for mental health care apply until those benefits are exhausted. [2] |
| Also | These pages do not name CPT codes, so no code-level status is shown here. For TRICARE Prime, inpatient mental health stays need a referral and pre-authorization from the regional contractor. [2] |
- TRICARE: Mental Health Therapeutic Services (last updated 11/26/2025), checked October 30, 2026
- TRICARE: Mental Health Appointments (last updated 8/18/2025), checked October 30, 2026
- TRICARE: Types of Mental Health Providers (last updated 5/22/2025), checked October 30, 2026
What TRICARE's documents say
The table above has every field we found for TRICARE, with numbered sources. In short:
- Visit limits. Individual sessions are covered up to 60 minutes (individual crisis sessions up to 120 minutes). Regular family or conjoint sessions are covered up to 90 minutes (crisis sessions up to 180 minutes). Group sessions are covered up to 90 minutes.
- Who can bill. TRICARE's provider-type list includes clinical psychologists, certified clinical social workers (master's in social work with psychotherapy training) and certified marriage and family therapists (must agree to participate in TRICARE). TRICARE certified mental health counselors need no referral or physician oversight. Supervised mental health counselors and pastoral counselors need a referral from a medical doctor and physician oversight.
- Where it applies. TRICARE covers office-based outpatient psychotherapy when medically or psychologically necessary to treat a mental health disorder. Individual, family or conjoint, and group sessions are covered. TRICARE covers marriage counseling only when needed to treat a diagnosed mental disorder.
Psychotherapy coverage at other national payers
Medicare, Cigna and Evernorth Behavioral Health and UnitedHealthcare and Optum Behavioral Health.
Check TRICARE's claim against the row
Before the claim goes out, compare it with the row above: the code matches the session length you documented, the place of service and modifier fit a video or audio-only visit, and the rendering clinician's license is one the payer enrolls. The psychotherapy table compares TRICARE with every other payer we checked.