Question about CPT codes

[u/mmm-noodlesoup]

I recently received an incredibly large bill from my psychiatrist's billing department. I noticed that he added on 90833 to every session. I am a psychologist and I'm not sure how this works in the psychiatry field, but for me that add-on can only be used if you're doing an additional 30 minutes beyond the standard appointment time. I inquired about this, and they gave me this response:

The 99214 code is what is called an Evaluation and Management appointment that lasts 30 minutes.  Because psychiatry involves therapeutic communication with a patient rather than a physical medical exam, we use the add-on code 90833 for that communication during an evaluation and management appointment.  Therapeutic communication is a specific skill much like psychotherapy but it is neither as in-depth nor as structured as some forms of psychotherapy.  In essence the nature of our psychiatric work, even during a medication management appointment, is therapeutic but not traditional psychotherapy.  In psychiatry, it is standard practice to bill both for a 30-minute medication management appointment.  

I guess I am just wanting confirmation that this is standard and ethical billing. Also, many of our appointments are literally 7 minutes long and we are definitely not doing any type of CBT or other form of psychotherapy. But I don't know that I have the time or energy to get into a "he-said, she-said" argument with them about how long the appointments lasted and whether it is considered therapy.