Medical psychotherapy. Clinical application in an inpatient setting.

Under the prevailing Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) billing codes, the function of the inpatient psychiatrist is defined in terms of providing "psychotherapy." Various third-party auditors have raised the implication of fraud when this has not been provided in a standardized fashion. In response, revisions in the CPT codes have been proposed aimed at legitimizing the true responsibilities of the attending psychiatrist. As an alternative solution, I have attempted to briefly summarize the concept of "medical psychotherapy," clarify how this approach would apply in an acute inpatient setting, and outline how it differs from the more classically defined outpatient psychotherapy models.