It depends on your individual plan. I get like 50 visits a year. Until recently my pdoc had to talk to my ins company (and I do not have a clue what he said) or send in paperwork.. and he would get about 8 visits at a time before needing to do it again for further visits. Now my insurance company has changed providers for my mental health portion of my benefits and there is no preauth needed. I have a PPO plan but I still needed for my MH benefits to have a doc or mh provider that was on a particular list... and luckily with this change my pdoc was on the provider list.

It is basically what your employer has asked for benefits for your individual plan or what you have signed up for ... if an individual plan.

PPO plans generally means no referrals needed for MEDICAL care if you choose someone from your PPO network. Sometimes particular things will need auths...such as MRI's or other things...

I just speak from my personal experience and also part of what I do for a living on a daily basis.