At Care First Rehabilitation, we believe that vocational rehabilitation is more than employment support—it’s a structured, individualized pathway to cognitive, emotional, and behavioral recovery, especially for survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI). That’s why we do not use H2023 (“Supported Employment, per 15 minutes”) to bill for our vocational programming. Doing so would mischaracterize the nature and depth of what we provide.
H2023 is designed for use in generic supported employment scenarios—typically job coaching or placement assistance provided in community mental health or disability service models. It does not reflect the complexity of our vocational rehabilitation programs, which include targeted cognitive retraining, functional skill-building, and workplace simulations facilitated by licensed professionals.
We instead utilize CPT Code 97537 (“Community/work reintegration training”), which more accurately represents the therapeutic intent and individualized delivery of our services. This code encompasses activities that help clients relearn planning, judgment, task sequencing, and communication skills—all critical for safe and productive engagement in work and community settings.
Moreover, at Care First, vocational rehabilitation also serves as a behavioral management tool. For many TBI survivors, structure, purpose, and feedback loops created within a work-like environment help reduce impulsivity, build frustration tolerance, and improve emotional regulation. These outcomes go far beyond what H2023 was designed to represent.
In short, using 97537 is not just a billing choice—it’s an affirmation of our commitment to personalized, clinically appropriate, and behaviorally supportive care for every client we serve.