Behavioral health Medicaid rates in Rhode Island include the single highest skills training rate in the country. Rhode Island Medicaid pays $139.64 an hour for skills training on code H2014, which ranks 1st of 33 states and sits 172.7% above the $51.20 national median.
Rhode Island's other ranked behavioral health rates cluster just below the national median, and several of them took effect on 2026-10-01 as part of a broad state rate review led by OHIC. Rates are compiled from official Rhode Island Medicaid publications, and each rate on the Rhode Island Medicaid rates hub links back to its source document.
| Service | Code | RI rate | Rank | vs national median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skills training and development | H2014 (HP) | $139.64 an hour | 1 of 33 | 172.7% |
| Mental health assessment (non-physician) | H0031 (HP, H9) | $124.50 | 15 of 27 | -0.4% |
| Community-based wraparound | H2021 | $89.60 an hour | 7 of 11 | -1.0% |
| Mental health counseling | 96152 (AJ) | $25.00 | 7 of 12 | -4.5% |
These four lines are the ranked comparison points. Rhode Island's behavioral health line holds 1,321 current rates, part of all 76,101 current Rhode Island Medicaid rates, each linked to the document that published it.
H2014 pays $34.91 per 15 minutes with modifier HP, effective 2024-10-01. Rhode Island leads Iowa ($120.60), Delaware ($119.68), South Carolina ($112.84) and the District of Columbia ($110.40). At the bottom of the range, Florida pays $13.40, Pennsylvania $10.00 and Idaho $8.60.
The economics are the strongest in Rhode Island's behavioral health schedule. The state's median psychiatric technician wage is $23.33 an hour, above the $21.70 national figure, yet pay still takes only 23.7% of the H2014 rate. The margin after loaded wages is $106.48 an hour.
What a top rate allows
For a community mental health agency, skills training in Rhode Island pays enough to fund supervision, travel and documentation with room left over. It also allows agencies to pay above the median technician wage to recruit and keep staff, which matters in a labor market where every behavioral health role earns above the national median. The HP modifier identifies the comparison line, so agencies should confirm their claims carry it.
Rhode Island's newest rates sit close to the national midpoint:
- Assessment (H0031). $124.50 with modifiers HP and H9, effective 2026-10-01. It ranks 15th of 27, just 0.4% below the $125.00 median.
- Wraparound (H2021). $22.40 per 15 minutes, or $89.60 an hour, also effective 2026-10-01. It ranks 7th of 11, 1.0% below the $90.48 median. Louisiana leads at $710.72; Utah is lowest at $19.76.
Both rates come from the 2026 rate review, so they reflect a deliberate decision to price these services at about the national midpoint. For providers, that makes them reliable but not a growth engine; their value lies in supporting the intake and care coordination that feed the better-paid rehabilitation services.
Counseling on 96152 pays $25.00 with modifier AJ, a rate in effect since 2013-03-25. It ranks 7th of 12, 4.5% below the $26.19 median. The highest states are South Dakota and Wyoming; the lowest include Connecticut and Michigan.
The counseling rate is the oldest on Rhode Island's behavioral health schedule, while the assessment and wraparound rates are the newest. With counselors earning $31.31 an hour, the $25.00 rate on 96152 is tight for licensed staff. Licensed clinicians delivering therapy usually bill the psychotherapy codes, such as 90837, which were also updated on 2026-10-01 and are listed on the state hub.
Rhode Island Medicaid's behavioral health programs, including CMHC, ACT, BH Link, peer, SUD and health home services, are listed as fee-for-service. Certified community behavioral health clinics are paid a prospective payment under PPS-2, a per-visit or per-period rate that covers the full range of clinic services rather than individual codes.
For a provider, the first question is which of these structures applies. A CCBHC is paid on its prospective rate regardless of which codes appear on a claim. A CMHC or community provider billing fee-for-service is paid code by code. A health home is paid on its own rate. The fee schedule figures above apply to the fee-for-service path, and the full Rhode Island Medicaid Interactive Fee For Service Fee Schedule lists them by code.
Most of Rhode Island's recent behavioral health changes come from the state's OHIC rate review process, with an effective date of 2026-10-01:
- OHIC Rate SPAs: Children's, Behavioral Health, Adult Day, and Preventive Services, with a 32.58% change.
- FY2027 Waiver Rates - OHIC - Behavioral Health, enacted under FY2027 Budget Article 8 and pending CMS approval, with an 8.75% change.
- OHIC Social and Human Service Programs Review, 2025 cycle rate recommendations with a 9.2% change.
- OHIC Rate SPAs: Health Home Services, with a 13.38% change in the related public notice.
- CMS approved RI SPA 26-0002 (Attachment 4.19B).
- Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS), a proposed state plan amendment.
For providers, the practical point is timing. Claims with dates of service from 2026-10-01 should reflect the new H0031 and H2021 rates, and the waiver rate change is still subject to CMS approval. Agencies should hold budget assumptions for waiver services until approval is confirmed.
Two further items affect behavioral health operators. An SUD Residential Inflator Removal was proposed with a 2026-07-01 date, which would stop automatic inflation adjustments on residential SUD rates. A Long-Term Behavioral Health Unit Rate was proposed with a 2025-10-01 date. Residential SUD providers in particular should confirm whether the inflator removal was adopted, because it changes how their rates move in future years.
Rhode Island's May 2025 wages are above the national median for every role:
- Mental health counselor: $31.31, against $28.53 nationally
- Mental health social worker: $29.32, against $28.98
- Clinical psychologist: $51.68, against $48.36
- Psychiatrist: $138.28, against $135.51
- Nurse practitioner: $65.37, against $63.61
- Psychiatric technician: $23.33, against $21.70
Rhode Island's behavioral health economics depend heavily on the high-paying community rehabilitation services. Social worker wages are only slightly above the national median, which makes social workers the most cost-effective licensed staff for assessment and care coordination.
Rhode Island lists 12 prior authorization rules each on 90791, 90792, 90832 and 90834, and all four carry a daily limit. Add-on codes 90785, 90833 and 90836 have a per-claim-line limit with no prior authorization rule. For an outpatient practice, that makes both the initial diagnostic evaluation and ongoing sessions steps that need authorization before the visit.
With that many rules, authorization is a staffing function. Practices should track approvals by client and code, request renewals ahead of expiry, and confirm the daily limit before scheduling two services for one client on the same date.
Rhode Island also has Medicaid managed care, including RIte Care for families and children and coverage for expansion adults, paid by capitation. For behavioral health, plans negotiate; the published rate applies out of network. Our behavioral health data counts 12 plans, and the plans named in the state data include Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, Tufts Health Public Plans and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island. The Rhode Island managed care page has the rule by service line.
Rhode Island prints state minimum fee schedule amounts in its MCO contract for some services, and the MCO contract's state directed payments table carries a 3.22% change effective 2026-07-01. A behavioral health provider should check whether any of its services appear in those tables before negotiating.
Within New England, Rhode Island's profile is distinctive. Maine leads the country on therapeutic behavioral services, New Hampshire sits in the middle on counseling, and Massachusetts and Connecticut rank among the lower-paying states on counseling. Rhode Island alone leads on skills training. For an operator choosing where to place a psychiatric rehabilitation program in the region, Rhode Island's H2014 rate is the deciding figure; for a counseling-led outpatient practice, the region's rates are much closer together and wage levels matter more than the rate.
Nationally, Rhode Island's H2014 rate is the benchmark other states are measured against: it is the maximum in the national range for skills training, and agencies elsewhere can use it to show plans and states what a fully funded rehabilitation hour looks like.
- Build around H2014. It is the highest-margin service on the schedule.
- Reload rates for 2026-10-01. Assessment, wraparound and psychotherapy codes all changed on that date.
- Hold waiver assumptions. The 8.75% behavioral health waiver change awaits CMS approval.
- Benchmark in New England. The Massachusetts hub and the New Hampshire behavioral health page show neighboring schedules.
National medians are on the behavioral health Medicaid rates by state overview, and plans for the full dataset are on the pricing page.
Rates are compiled from official Rhode Island Medicaid publications, including the RI Medicaid Interactive Fee For Service Fee Schedule. Each rate links to its source document, and Rhode Island's history in our data goes back to 1993. Comparison groups match services across codes, hourly figures are converted from the published unit, and ranks include only states with a comparable rate. Wage figures are May 2025 medians. See the methodology page.