Ambulatory withdrawal management (detox): Medicaid rates by state

This is a service-level benchmark rather than a single code: each state's headline rate for ambulatory withdrawal management (detox) is chosen to match the same service and the same provider level.

• Provider level. States are compared at the agency provider level. Rates for other levels on file (any qualified provider, licensed practical / vocational nurse and registered nurse) are kept separate, never mixed into this ranking.
• Unit. Of the 2 states, 1 publish their headline rate per hour and 1 per 15 min. The ranking converts every time-based rate to an hour of service, so states that bill by the 15 minutes and by the hour compare directly.
• Variants. 2 of the 2 states publish more than one rate for this service (by modifier, program, setting or provider type); the headline rate is the one that matches the comparison, and the workspace lists every variant.
• Depth. 462 rates for this service are on file across all states, versions and provider levels; this page shows one headline rate per state.

The highest-paying state, California, pays $339.44 per hour; the lowest, Alaska, pays $155.32 per hour, a 2.2x gap. 1 of the 2 states pay above the median of $247.38 per hour. Common reasons rates for behavioral health services spread this way:

• States add enhanced rates for crisis services, certified community behavioral health clinics and integrated care that sit outside the base schedule.
• Behavioral health is frequently run through a separate state agency, a carve-out or a specialty plan, with its own rate-setting cycle.
• Community mental health and substance use services are often billed under H and T codes that each state defines for itself, so the same code can describe a different service in two states.

Billing notes

Modifiers such as HO (master's level), HN (bachelor's level) and HP (doctoral level) identify the practitioner, and many states publish a different rate for each. Psychotherapy codes are defined by session length, so one unit is one session of the stated duration; H codes are billed in whatever unit the state defines, often 15 minutes, an hour or a day.