UHC (Optum OHBS) — Texas Behavioral Health Rate Reference

UHC in Texas behavioral health

UHC routes all behavioral health contracting in Texas through Optum, its wholly owned behavioral health subsidiary. Providers credentialed with UHC for outpatient mental health are placed on the Optum Health Behavioral Solutions (OHBS) network — not the general UHC medical or Choice Plus network. This distinction matters for credentialing applications, panel status checks, and rate negotiations: the contracting entity is Optum OHBS, and the Transparency in Coverage filing is made under that name.

UHC is one of the largest commercial payers in Texas by covered lives, making the Optum OHBS network one of the highest-volume behavioral health panels in the state. For an outpatient therapist weighing which panels to join, UHC/Optum represents a significant volume source — but one with a rate structure worth examining before signing.

UHC Texas rate benchmark for CPT 90837

The live rate distribution — median, percentile spread, sample size, and confidence — is published on the UHC Texas 90837 benchmark page and mirrored below. RateScope renders these figures directly from the sealed benchmark, so this page can never disagree with the live data. Until the UHC Texas cohort clears validation against subscriber-confirmed rates, the figures read as pending validation rather than a point-in-time number.

How tightly UHC's master's-level rates cluster, where the doctoral premium sits, and how much the rate varies across the network are all part of the published distribution on the benchmark page — reported from the validated data rather than asserted here. What TiC data cannot show, on any payer, is why a given provider sits where they do: the filings report rates, not whether a higher rate reflects legacy contracts, group-practice arrangements, or specific credentialing pathways.

How UHC compares to other Texas payers

The Texas payers present distinct rate structures rather than a single statewide rate: UHC/Optum OHBS and BCBS Texas file geographically scoped Texas schedules; Cigna's network spans multiple plan products (PPO / HMO / OAP); and Aetna files a national MRF filtered to Texas NPIs. Those structural differences shape how each benchmark should be read, so cross-payer comparison is directional rather than a like-for-like rate match. See each payer's reference page for the structure behind its distribution.

UHC Transparency in Coverage data

UHC files Transparency in Coverage machine-readable files through Optum. The behavioral health MRF for Texas is filed under the entity name Optum Health Behavioral Solutions (OHBS).

What the March 2026 OHBS TiC filing contains for Texas CPT 90837:

• Negotiated rates by NPI, separated by credential tier
• A statewide master's-level provider set
• Schema 2.0 format — NPI path: provider_references.item.provider_groups.item.npi.item
• Rate type: negotiated and fee schedule

The filing does not include claim volume, utilization data, or the conditions under which rates were set. It records what Optum has agreed to pay each credentialed provider.

Full distribution, confidence score, and methodology are shown on the benchmark page.

Reference card

• Network entity: Optum Health Behavioral Solutions (OHBS) — wholly owned subsidiary of UHC
• TiC filing name: Optum OHBS (not "UHC" — search for Optum when locating MRFs)
• Credentialing contact: Optum Provider Express (providerexpress.com)
• Master's-level TX 90837 median: pending validation
• Master's-level TX 90837 provider sample: pending validation
• Psychologist TX 90837 median: pending validation
• TiC vintage: March 2026
• Payer bucket: Master's-level includes LPC, LCSW, LMFT (pooled)

See also

• UHC Texas CPT 90837 report — full rate distribution and percentile detail
• BCBS Texas rate reference — TX-specific HCSC network
• Cigna Texas rate reference — multi-product network (PPO / HMO / OAP)
• LCSW credential reference — how UHC buckets the credential
• Compare Texas payers for 90837 — side-by-side
• Methodology — how RateScope processes Transparency in Coverage filings