Psychiatrists are highly trained to use a combination of medication and therapy to deal with severe mental health issues and common disorders.  Naturally, their valuable skills and experience result in relatively high fees and service costs.

Now, if you’re not familiar with the cost of medical practices, setting a budget for psychiatric services can be difficult.  So, to help you understand the cost of psychiatric services in general, we’ve prepared this basic guide complete with various medical and financial resources.

The Cost of Psychiatric Services

Consultations/Checkups

As is the case with most other physicians, psychiatrists often make use of consultations to gauge a patient’s mental health.  This can involve asking basic questions, taking standard vitals, and asking the patient about their health concerns or pre-existing medical issues.

These consultations can run anywhere between $250 and $500 on the higher end of the cost spectrum.  The wide difference in consultation costs is often a result of additional procedures taken prior to providing patient diagnoses.

If a psychiatrist deems it necessary a patient may need to undergo psychological examinations, blood tests, and other lab-related procedures.  These additional steps can help psychiatrists diagnose their patients by providing them with relevant health data.

Checkups are a less focused form of patient examination and are usually conducted to monitor the status of a patient both during and after a specific treatment.  More often than not checkups are significantly lower in cost with most being between $100 and $200 for each session.

Psychotherapy

Most psychiatrists will use treatments such as medicated psychotherapy to help patients with disorders and mental health issues.  The most common health issues encountered by psychiatrists include PTSD, OCD, autism, severe depression, and even schizophrenia.

Setting aside the cost of medication, most psychiatric treatments are billed according to a physician’s hourly rate.  While the exact cost depends on your specific physician, we found that most psychiatrists charge an hourly rate between $160 and $330.

Repeat Prescriptions

As is the case with standard doctors, psychiatrists often prescribe patients with medication to treat a number of health issues.  These prescriptions come with standard fees depending on the number of medical drugs prescribed and the duration of treatment.

From what we could gather, the standard cost of a repeat prescription is between $20 and $60 for most psychiatric medications.

It’s worth noting that the costs and price ranges provided above are what you’d end up paying without insurance.  Be it public or private, a health insurance policy can make paying for any type of medical service much easier.

Psychiatrists are no exception, and many patients can see as much as a 50% decrease in their fees with a proper health insurance plan.  If you’d like to explore the possibility of having your own plan we’d recommend consulting a capable insurance broker.

Now that we’ve touched on the cost of basic psychiatric services, we sincerely hope you’ll have an easier time budgeting for your medical expenses