Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy — Rates, Referrals & Registration
Psychotherapy therapy, support, and case management via telehealth from the Psychedelic Institute of Mental Health & Family Therapy
Getting started with Ketamine Therapy
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is a collaboration between a medical provider and a psychedelic mental health specialist. Where general mental health counseling and psychotherapy often doesn't require a medical referral, meaning you can work with a therapist directly, our psychedelic services are offered by medical referral only, that means once you have been assessed and prescribed ketamine by a licensed medical provider, that provider then refers you to mental health services with specially trained psychotherapists.
- See a licensed medical provider
- An independent medical clinician and / or your primary care provider will assess you for your ketamine prescription and the setting of your medicine session that is most appropriate for you. Although some of this may be accessible remotely, an in-person medical visit is recommended. A medical and / or psychiatric diagnosis may be required. Your medical provider will discuss this with you. Your medical visit is an additional cost consideration. Your medical provider will recommend the route of administration, setting, dosing strategy and safety protocol in collaboration with a licensed pharmacist.
- Not sure how to talk to your medical provider about your mental health? Take a mental health test (offered by Mental Health America), which you can share with your medical provider.
- Schedule Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy Intake
- Begin 6-12 week individual, relational, or group psychotherapy program
Treatment Plan, Rates, Payment Options
Option 1: 18 hours over 9 weeks
$3150 (Self Pay)
If your medical provider has cleared you for sublingual racemic ketamine to self-administer at home
This package covers 1 hour of preparation, 10 hours of medication-assisted psychotherapy, and 7 hours of psychedelic medicine integration.
Note: You are required to have an emergency contact sober sitter, age 21 or over, during the time of your medicine sessions.
Option 2: 9 hours over 9 weeks
$1575 (Self Pay)
If your medical provider has cleared you for iv, im, or another form of racemic ketamine to be done in a medical office, or if your provider has prescribed you intranasal esketamine (Spravato) to be done in a medical office
This package covers 1 hour of preparation and 8 hours of integration sessions supervised by a psychedelic cognitive behavioral mental health specialist via telehealth within 1-4 days of your medicine session.
Generic Off-label racemic ketamine or Spravato is administered according to your medical provider's supervision in a medical office. Different routes of administration involve different levels of care, which add to the cost of these routes of administration.
Option 3: Non-medicine cognitive behavioral therapy, 9 hours over 9 weeks
If your medical provider has not cleared you for ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, or if your provider has prescribed you treatment as usual:
This package covers 1 hour of preparation and 8 hours of psychotherapy sessions by a cognitive behavioral mental health specialist via telehealth once a week
Current Self-Pay Rates for Psychedelic Preparation/Integration
- Individual - $175 per 60 minute session
- Family/Relational - $262.50 per 90 minute session
- Group - $75 per person per 90 minute session (limit 5)
Medicine-Assisted Psychotherapy
*Not billable to insurance plans
- Individual - $437.50 per 2.5 hour session (4 session minimum- $1738)
- Family Relational - $656.25 per 2 people per 2.5 hour session (4 session minimum- $2625
- Group - $225 - per person per 3 hour group session (4 session minimum - $900)
A sliding scale is available.
**Additional expense considerations: medical visit by your referring provider and the cost of your generic compounded racemic ketamine charged by your pharmacy
Insurance Options:
You may be eligible to work with your insurance for the 60 minute psychotherapy component of your treatment plan. 2.5 hour medicine sessions are not currently eligible for insurance billing.
- Thrizer.com – "Thrizer helps you successfully navigate your out-of-network benefits"
- Reimbursify.com - "File Claims with Ease, Get Reimbursed Faster"
- Headway.com - Dr. DeMarco works with the following insurances in CA, NY, UT, VT - Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Blue Shield of California, Cigna, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey, Point32 Healthcare, Quest Behavioral Health, Regence Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Utah
- Kaiser SoCal (California Residents) / Open Mind Health
If you have mental health benefits, you may be able to get part of your care reimbursed to you according to your plan. Working with a licensed psychotherapist allows you to submit data to your health insurance company so that you may get part of the cost of your care reimbursed to you, or directly to your care provider, once you have paid their corporation enough money. These are called “premiums”.
Avoiding plans that restrict you to using providers only “in-network”, and choosing a plan that offers the most flexibility in covering the cost of your personal health and wellness with the lowest possible premium is a privilege. These insurance schemes are often called “PPO plans”, and are sometimes offered through employers, who then pay workers less to cover the cost of offering an adequate insurance plan.
A sample procedure code one may see for 60 minutes of individual counseling or psychotherapy may be 90837 Check out Reimbursify.com to see what your plan covers for this service. How close is that to National Average? One can expect to pay the difference.
Note: a medical / psychiatric diagnosis is required for most third party insurance reimbursement
Reimbursify.com can help you verify what your insurance plan might reimburse you, and helps you easily file electronic claims.
Thrizer.com helps you successfully navigate your out-of-network benefits
Many people do not have health insurance that provides adequate coverage for psychedelic mental health psychotherapy reimbursement.
A fee for service model with transparent pricing is what many practitioners rely on to exist.
A sliding scale and group rate is also available.
Fair Health Consumer— Industry Standard Fees -
Estimate Your Healthcare and mental health costs with and without health insurance. 90837 is a standard 60 minute psychotherapy session. You can also check out medical costs for an idea of going rates in your area. Refer to your health plan for specific reimbursement details.
What about "psychedelic insurance"?
Insurance plans paid for directly by you, or by your employer have various tradeoffs related to coverage, privacy, clinician pay, etc. Adding the word "psychedelic" may make this sound like a new type of plan, but healthcare insurance corporations cover mental health and medical health services provided by licensed healthcare providers for medical services (medical visits) and mental health services (psychotherapy).
PlanetMedicines
PlanetMedicines
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy & Support Curriculum Outline
Download Practice Guide outlines a general rationale for approach, and an abbreviated review of the literature on psychedelic ketamine + cognitive behavioral therapy.
Psychedelic Therapy Referral
Collaboration, and clarification of roles are key elements in working with medicine in mental health. Medical providers oversee the medical / psychiatric aspects of your assessment and prescription medicines, the psychotherapist supports the mental health aspects, the pharmacy is responsible for getting safe medicine to you.
The overall costs of treatment reflects each of these clinicians’ time and overhead.
The Institute is familiar with several medical groups which provide medical oversight and harm reduction support and/or consultation for your medical provider and/or ongoing mental health provider. Otherwise, ask your medical provider if ketamine-assisted psychotherapy might be appropriate for your particular mental health situation.
The Institute has no financial stake or gain from any of these independent practices. The cost of your medical visits and the cost of your medicine are additional considerations.
Telehealth providers increase access to medicine by specializing in at-home / in-home care
Mystics Health
IV-Ketamine in-office
New York (Various options in Manhattan, Brooklyn)
Sara Herman, MD, California, Bay Area
Licensed and Accredited Compounding Pharmacies are an essential part of modern medicine, and can formulate medicines into forms most conducive to treatment of the individual. The following compounding pharmacies come with recommendations from providers and clients. The Institute has no financial stake or gain in these independent businesses. Your medical provider may work with another licensed pharmacy.
*Obtaining accreditation by the pharmacy compounding accreditation board, part 1: an overview
Joe Cabaleiro Rph
PlanetMedicines
There is a lot of misinformation surrounding ketamine safety, leading to misuse, tolerance and psychological dependence.
For crisis support & additional harm reduction services can help you decide what level of care you might need when you're having a mental health crisis. When things feel more stable, ask your doctor for telehealth and talk therapy.
Medication-assisted therapy is not new, or specific to ketamine, and is different than self-medicating, “at home ketamine”, or any other psychiatric drug administered without mental health support. Psychotherapy may be done in person, in an office, in nature, via telehealth, in hospice, hospital, temple, jungle, or by phone.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in office, at home, or via telehealth has helped increase access to care for such a large number of suffering and community support is more available than ever online. It's important to practice the concepts you are learning in mental health counseling and psychotherapy at home and in community. Organizations like CBT-based SMART Recovery help make that possible.
Collaborating with a psychotherapist specializing in psychedelic therapy with medically-guided ketamine offers one solution to some of the issues of dependence, diversion, or misuse and a reduction in the likelihood of personal harm from the use of this medicine, or any medicine that may affect your mental health and well-being.
Psychotherapy (along with integrating counseling and coaching) in conjunction with medicine in the least amount that will do the most good over time, continues to be offered in offices, via telehealth, in home, and at home. Psychotherapists have offered telehealth sessions, in-home and other out-of-office settings for decades.
The setting of prescription medicine use is guided by your independent medical provider’s understanding of an evolving set of Standards of Care in Psychedelic Medicines and Therapies.
See Ketamine for Depression (Hyde, 2015) and The Ketamine Papers (Wolfson & Hartelius, 2016) for a synopsis of 60+ years of ketamine research adding to more than 100 years of research in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy in mental health and recovery treatment practice.
We recommend that whatever means you are prescribed a medicine which affects human psychology, that you also work with a specialist in human psychology to support what the medicine is doing through psychotherapy.
Michael DeMarco, PhD
Ketamine via mouth has been prescribed by mental health and pain management specialists for at-home use for decades in psychiatry, pain management, palliative care, hospice and end-of-life care with proper level of support.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy via telehealth from the Psychedelic Institute of Mental Health & Family Therapy is available for residents of CA, NY, UT and VT.
Justin
PlanetMedicines
Michael DeMarco, PhD
Psychedelics in Palliative Care (Marcia Glass, ed, Oxford University Press, 2025)
Michael DeMarco, PhD