By Riley Guinan, PA-C
A psychiatric evaluation costs $250 to $500 without insurance nationally, and most first visits land near $250 to $300. Follow-ups usually run $100 to $200. Two things move those figures: the practice you pick and your coverage.
Zellig publishes its own fees: A standard 60-minute intake is $300, and the full schedule is in the table below. The insurance and fees page always carries the current number for every visit type.
The 80-minute intake at $375 gives more room for a complicated psychiatric history or for patients who want more time to tell their story, and it fits most self-pay patients well.
Key takeaways
A psychiatric evaluation costs $250 to $500 out of pocket in the United States, and most people pay near the lower end, per GoodRx and Thervo data checked June 2026. The fee covers a visit that runs anywhere from 20 minutes to 80-plus minutes and ends with a diagnosis and a plan.
A prescriber takes your full history and screens for medical problems that can mimic psychiatric ones, then leaves you with a working diagnosis and a plan you understand. A Zellig intake runs 60 or 80 minutes, longer than a typical intake elsewhere.
The word “evaluation” covers two different services, which is where the price confusion starts. A psychiatric or mental health evaluation is the clinical interview above: a single visit that ends in a diagnosis and a plan, priced at the lower end of the range. A psychological evaluation is something else. It is standardized testing run by a psychologist over several sessions, so it costs more, and its most in-depth form, neuropsychological testing, measures cognition and memory. Most people asking about price mean the interview, and the table below shows its benchmarks.
| Visit type | Typical self-pay cost (US) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Initial psychiatric evaluation | $250–$500 (often $250–$300) | GoodRx; Thervo, checked June 2026 |
| Follow-up visit | $100–$200 (full range $80–$250) | GoodRx; Thervo |
| ADHD evaluation (clinical interview) | Prices like a standard evaluation | See ADHD section below |
| Full neuropsychological testing | $2,000–$5,000 | Mira Health; Sachs Center |
Follow-up visits with a psychiatric prescriber typically cost $100 to $200 without insurance, per GoodRx; Thervo lists a wider $80 to $250 range. The first visit and every visit after it carry different prices, because intake is the long one and follow-ups are shorter check-ins on how treatment is working.
Frequency drives the yearly total more than any single fee. Most patients are seen every one to three months once medication is stable, so a year of follow-ups runs four to twelve visits. At Zellig a follow-up is 30 minutes for $150, which puts a typical year of medication management between $600 and $1,800 on top of the intake. When a patient asks what a year will cost, the first thing to pin down is visit cadence, since that moves the total most.
Without insurance, expect $250 to $500 for an initial evaluation and $100 to $200 per follow-up at most US practices (GoodRx and Thervo, June 2026). Federal protections and tax-advantaged accounts can soften that cost, and a written estimate means the price should not surprise you.
Start with the Good Faith Estimate, a protection under the federal No Surprises Act. Since 2022, every self-pay patient has the right to a written estimate of charges when scheduling, or on request. If the final bill comes in $400 or more above that estimate, you can dispute it through a federal process within 120 days.
Your tax-advantaged accounts help too. IRS Publication 502 lists psychiatric care as a qualified medical expense, so HSA and FSA dollars cover evaluations and follow-ups. If you have insurance but we are out-of-network for it, ask us for a superbill, an itemized receipt you submit to your plan for possible partial reimbursement. Because Zellig’s self-pay fees are flat and published, your estimate and your bill are the same number.
Before you book anywhere, ask four questions:
When you are ready, online psychiatry across Pennsylvania is the fastest way to get scheduled.
With insurance, an in-network psychiatric visit usually costs a specialist copay, which averaged $45 in 2025 per KFF’s employer survey. Before you meet your deductible, you may owe the plan’s full negotiated rate instead.
Three terms decide your bill. Your deductible is what you pay each year before the plan starts sharing costs; KFF’s 2025 survey puts the single-coverage average at $1,886. A copay is the flat fee per visit once coverage kicks in, averaging $45 for specialists. Coinsurance is the percentage version of a copay, averaging 19% of the negotiated rate. Mental health visits get one extra protection: federal parity law bars plans from charging more for psychiatric care than for comparable medical care.
Here is the worked example we give patients. If your plan has a $45 specialist copay and your deductible is met, a follow-up costs you $45. If your deductible is not met, you pay the plan’s negotiated rate for the visit code, so it helps to ask your insurer what they allow for an intake before you book. Intakes are commonly billed as CPT 90791, the psychiatric diagnostic evaluation code, or a new-patient code like 99204 or 99205. Zellig accepts nearly all commercial insurance in Pennsylvania; plan details are on our insurance and fees page.
An ADHD evaluation at a psychiatric practice is usually a standard diagnostic evaluation, so it prices the same: roughly $250 to $500 without insurance nationally. Full neuropsychological testing runs $2,000 to $5,000, and most adults being assessed for ADHD do not need it.
The big number tends to get quoted first, which alarms people. A full neuropsychological battery is hours of cognitive testing with a neuropsychologist, reserved for complicated cases like a suspected learning disorder or head injury. Most ADHD diagnoses come from a clinical interview plus validated rating scales, which is what our ADHD evaluations include. The fee matches our standard intake, $300 for 60 minutes or $375 for 80, and the insurance and fees page has the current figure.
Medication is a separate cost from your visit. You pay for it at the pharmacy, and the visit fee never includes the prescription itself. Most psychiatric conditions are treated with generics that cost a few dollars a month, while brand-name and newer drugs cost more.
If you have insurance, prescriptions fall under your pharmacy benefit, and your share depends on the drug’s formulary tier, which is set separately from your visit copay. Paying cash, a free discount tool like GoodRx or SingleCare often cuts the price of common generics, and HSA or FSA dollars cover prescriptions just like visits. Whether a generic fits your case is a prescriber conversation, and at Zellig we weigh cost when the clinical options are equal.
Two evaluations in the same city can differ by hundreds of dollars, and the spread comes from a few measurable things. Credential type is one driver: a physician (MD/DO) generally bills more, while psychiatric nurse practitioners and physician associates bill somewhat lower. Region is another, since major-metro practices charge above the national ranges. The largest factor is visit length, because an hour of clinician time costs more to deliver than twenty minutes.
Part of the credential gap is structural. Medicare pays services billed by a PA at 85% of the physician rate, and commercial insurers set similar differentials. That structure lets a PA-led practice keep fees below typical psychiatrist pricing while offering longer visits.
Is a psychiatric evaluation covered by insurance?
Most commercial plans cover psychiatric evaluations, because federal parity law requires mental health coverage to match medical coverage. You will still owe your plan’s normal cost-sharing, like a specialist copay (KFF’s 2025 average: $45) or a deductible payment. Zellig is in-network with nearly all commercial plans in Pennsylvania.
Do you offer a sliding scale?
Zellig does not offer a sliding scale. We keep standard fees for every patient and post them on the insurance and fees page. If cost is a barrier, HSA or FSA funds can pay for psychiatric care, and we can provide a superbill for out-of-network reimbursement.
Does a telehealth visit cost less than an in-person visit?
Telehealth and in-person visits cost the same at Zellig. The appointment length and the clinical work are identical, so the fee matches. That applies to telepsychiatry across Pennsylvania and to in-person appointments at our Wayne office, which runs the third Monday of each month.
What happens if I miss an appointment or cancel late?
Missed appointments and late cancellations carry a fee at Zellig, and the current amount is on the insurance and fees page. Booked time is held for you alone. If you need to reschedule, contact us early and we will move the visit without a charge when your notice allows.
This page is general cost information for the US market and Pennsylvania patients. It is not individualized medical advice; decisions about your care belong with your own prescriber. Cost figures are national benchmarks checked June 12, 2026 and change over time.
