HCPCS code T1024 – Specialty team evaluation and treatment

Key takeaways

HCPCS code T1024 bills evaluation and treatment by an integrated specialty team for children with multiple or severe disabilities.

The national billing unit is one encounter, not one day and not 15 minutes.

CMS lists T1024 as not payable by Medicare, so the claim goes to the state Medicaid program or its managed care plan.

T1024 is not a national early intervention code, although some states, such as Florida, use it for early intervention team evaluations.

A team roster, notes from each discipline and a shared plan of care are what keep a T1024 claim payable.

What is HCPCS code T1024?

HCPCS code T1024 bills evaluation and treatment by an integrated, specialty team contracted to provide coordinated care to children with multiple or severe disabilities. One unit equals one encounter with that team. The official descriptor still uses the older wording “multiple or severely handicapped children.”

T1024 sits in the HCPCS Level II T-code range, T1000-T5999, which CMS reserves for state Medicaid agencies. The CMS HCPCS quarterly file lists it as not payable by Medicare. It was added on January 1, 2003, and is still active.

T1024 is not a per diem code. Nationally, it is also not tied to early intervention under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). A state can still adopt it for early intervention team visits, so the state billing manual decides how you use it.

What T1024 covers

T1024 pays for one encounter in which a contracted team of specialists evaluates or treats a child together. The key word is integrated. The disciplines work from one coordinated plan, rather than as separate referrals billed one by one.

Depending on the state program, a T1024 encounter can include:

• Multidisciplinary evaluation: a developmental, psychosocial or functional assessment by two or more disciplines working together.
• Team treatment: coordinated treatment the contracted team delivers during the same encounter.
• Therapy disciplines: physical, occupational and speech therapy members of the team, named on the claim where the state requires it.
• Follow-up evaluation: a reassessment that updates the child’s plan of care, where the state allows one.
• Shared findings: the team’s combined conclusions and recommendations for the child’s ongoing care.

Florida is one example of local use. Its 2026 Early Intervention Services fee schedule bills initial and follow-up psychosocial and developmental evaluations under T1024.

Physical, speech and occupational therapists can render them. So can licensed early intervention professionals and Infant Toddler Developmental Specialists (ITDS).

The national descriptor says nothing about early intervention, so Florida’s rules bind only Florida claims. Another state may use T1024 for a different team service, or not pay it at all.

What T1024 does not cover

Because T1024 pays for a coordinated team encounter, several services sit outside it.

• Medicare and most commercial claims: T-codes exist for state Medicaid agencies, and CMS lists T1024 as not payable by Medicare.
• Day or hourly clinic care: a full day of intensive multidisciplinary clinic care for children with complex impairments is T1025. The hourly version is T1026.
• Single-discipline visits: one therapist seeing a child alone is usually billed under that discipline’s own code, not a team code.
• Program screening: a screening to decide whether a person should join a specified program, project or treatment protocol is T1023.
• Family training on its own: family training and counseling for child development is T1027, billed per 15 minutes.
• Adults: the descriptor names children, so an adult team evaluation falls outside it.

Whether a state pays T1024 and a single-discipline code for the same child on the same date is a state rule. Check the billing manual before you bill both.

T1024 vs T1023 and related T-codes

The codes from T1023 to T1027 sit next to each other but bill different services. The billing unit is the quickest way to tell them apart, and the population is the second.

T1024 and T1026 both serve children with complex needs, so they are the pair most often mixed up. T1024 covers a team encounter, while T1025 and T1026 cover ongoing time in a clinic program. The guide below turns those unit and population rules into six questions.

Units and how to bill HCPCS code T1024

The national descriptor sets one unit per encounter. However, a state can define its own unit for the code, so the fee schedule decides what goes in the units field.

Florida also caps multidisciplinary evaluations at two hours per team member, per event. As a result, a three-person evaluation can carry up to four units for each team member’s provider type.

Claims follow the standard CMS-1500 or 837P format, with the unit count in Box 24G. Pabau, the practice management platform we build, supports both formats in its claims management workflow. That cuts manual entry on T-code claim lines.

Modifiers used with T1024

CMS sets no modifier requirement for T1024, so modifier rules come from each state fee schedule and plan contract. Florida’s 2026 early intervention schedule is a published example:

• GP, GN and GO: identify the physical therapy, speech-language pathology and occupational therapy team members.
• UK and TS: Florida pairs UK with initial evaluations and TS with follow-up evaluations.
• TL and HN: Florida uses TL for a licensed early intervention professional and HN for an Infant Toddler Developmental Specialist.

Another state may use different modifiers for T1024, or none. Therefore, check the current fee schedule for the state and plan you bill before you append one.

Prior authorization for T1024

There is no national prior authorization rule for T1024. Each state Medicaid program and managed care plan sets its own.

• Fee-for-service Medicaid: the state billing manual says whether a team encounter needs approval and how many encounters a period allows.
• Medicaid managed care: the plan’s own policy applies, and it can differ from the state fee-for-service rules.
• Program-based use: where a state uses T1024 inside a program, such as early intervention, that program’s referral and eligibility steps usually come first.

Where approval applies, record the authorization number, its dates and the approved encounters on the child’s record. An encounter outside those dates is denied just like one with no authorization.

Documentation requirements for a T1024 claim

The records behind T1024 need to show two facts: a team saw the child together, and the encounter followed a coordinated plan.

• Referral or order: why the child needs a team evaluation or treatment, where the program asks for one.
• Team roster: each team member’s name, discipline, credential and National Provider Identifier (NPI) for the encounter.
• Encounter notes: the date, start and end times, setting and what each discipline assessed or did.
• Integrated findings: the team’s combined findings and recommendations, not only separate discipline notes.
• Plan of care: the coordinated plan the team produced or updated at the encounter.
• Diagnosis codes: the most specific ICD-10-CM codes that support the child’s multiple or severe disabilities.

The integrated findings are what separate a T1024 encounter from several visits on one day. In Pabau, a team can build one digital form template that captures every member’s input at the point of care.

T1024 reimbursement rates

There is no federal fee for T1024, because Medicare does not pay it. Each state Medicaid program sets its own rate, and managed care plans set theirs in the provider contract.

These figures come from Florida’s 2026 Early Intervention Services fee schedule, and the maximums are the rate multiplied by four units. Other states publish their rates in their own Medicaid fee schedules, so check the current file before you quote one.

Common T1024 denial reasons and how to avoid them

Most T1024 problems trace back to the payer, the unit count or the team record. In addition, a clear denial management workflow helps your team work each remittance quickly.

Payer and unit errors can usually be corrected and resubmitted. By contrast, authorization denials tend to need an appeal. Knowing the common claim denial codes shortens both routes.

How Pabau supports T1024 documentation and claims

A T1024 claim depends on records from several people: each team member’s notes, the shared findings and the authorization. When they sit in separate files, the claim goes out without proof that the team worked together.

Pabau keeps those records on one patient file. Digital forms capture each discipline’s input, and the calendar books the whole team into one appointment.

When the claim is ready, Pabau sends it through its Claim.MD clearinghouse integration. That route adds real-time eligibility checks and electronic remittance advice (ERA) retrieval. However, Pabau does not choose codes or units for you, so your team still applies the state rules above.

Keep team notes and T1024 claims together

Pabau keeps every team member’s notes, the shared plan and the appointment on one patient record. Claims then go out through Claim.MD from that data.

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Conclusion

T1024 is a team code billed per encounter, and most errors start when it is treated as a day rate or an early intervention catch-all. Before the first claim, write down how your state defines the unit, which modifiers it wants and how many evaluations it allows.

Then bill each encounter from the team’s shared record, not from separate visit notes. Book a demo to see how Pabau keeps team notes, plans of care and claims on one record.

Continue your research

Want to understand how clearinghouse integration reduces claim errors? Claim.MD clearinghouse overview explains how electronic claim routing, real-time eligibility and ERA retrieval work in practice.

Looking for compliance standards for Medicaid billing? Medical billing compliance covers documentation retention, audit readiness and HIPAA transaction requirements for Medicaid billers.

Sending T-code claims electronically? The 837 file explained walks through the electronic claim format that carries your T1024 lines to the payer.

Need approval before the team encounter? The prior authorization process covers how to request, track and renew approvals with Medicaid plans.

Frequently asked questions