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SCHEDULING AND PAYMENT POLICY

Appointments are approximately 50 minutes long. If you should arrive late for an appointment, your session will end at its regularly scheduled time. However if, for any reason, your appointment does not begin on time due to our lateness, be assured that you will receive the full session. If you must cancel an appointment, please give at least 24 hours advance notice by leaving a message in your therapist’s voice mail at 215-885-1835 or via the patient portal link provided to you. Forgotten appointments or last minute cancellations (unless an emergency or illness) will be assessed the usual fee, according to the therapist’s decision. Please note that insurance does not cover canceled appointments. The fee for each session, or the co-pay required by your insurance, is due at the time of the session and may be paid by cash, personal check, ACH bank transfer, or by credit card.

INSURANCE

Any arrangement you have for medical insurance is a contract between you and the insurance company. In order for you to know clearly what your coverage is, you will need to call your insurance carrier and find out exactly what outpatient mental health services your policy covers with your therapist and what the conditions of coverage are.

Questions to ask your insurance company:

If our services are In-Network:

• Do I have mental health benefits?
• Is pre-certification necessary?
• Is there a deductible?
• What is the co-pay (if any)?
• Is there a limit of sessions per year?
• Are the mental health benefits carved out to another entity?

If our services are Out-of Network:

• Do I have mental health benefits?
• Is pre-certification necessary?
• What is the deductible?
• What portion does the insurance pay per session?
• Is there a limit of sessions per year?

If your insurance carrier does not cover, or ceases to cover, for any reason, you are financially responsible for all charges. It is always your right to pay for services yourself and avoid all of the intricacies of insurance.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Issues discussed in therapy are legally protected as both confidential and privileged. However, limits to this confidentiality include situations in which there is:

• suspected abuse or neglect of a child, elderly person or disabled person
• the clear indication that you are in danger of harming yourself or another person, or if you are unable to care for yourself
• a court order requiring release of information in certain circumstances

There are other circumstances when information may be released:

• If you use insurance, you will be asked to sign a release to provide your insurer with the information necessary to process claims for psychological services.
• Some insurers request that your primary care physician be apprised of your psychological care.
• If you wish information to be released to your doctor or lawyer, you will be asked to sign a form for that purpose.
• Your case may be discussed from time to time in clinical consultation with the practice managers.
• If you are referred to another professional within this office, you will be asked to sign a release so information can be shared in order to provide the best continuity of care.

RECORDS

This practice utilized an electronic health record which provides a patient portal for your convenience. Your therapy records are kept private and are available only to your counselor. Any printed records are kept in a locked cabinet on site. We maintain clinical chart describing your condition, your treatment and progress, dates of service and a brief summary of each session.

FAQ

Most frequent questions and answers

Once you have been scheduled for your first appointment, our staff will enroll you in our patient portal, Therapyappointment.com. When you receive your registration link via email, please log-in and follow directions to change your password, review your information and sign any documents required by your therapist. If you lose your password or need a new registration link, please contact your therapist.

Your counselor may be reached by calling 215.885.1835 and entering their extension number. Or, you may send them a message via the patient portal. Each counseling associate handles crisis calls in different ways so check with them on the best way to reach them. In case of emergency, please call 911 or other urgent care choices in your region as email and phone messages may not be responded to with the speed you need.

Our associates may be able to offer teletherapy services in some jurisdictions outside of Pennsylvania. Please contact us to see if we can offer such services for you. 

At the beginning of the pandemic, most if not all insurance companies waived rules restricting coverage of telehealth services. By late 2021 many indicated they would soon no longer cover mental health services by telehealth. Contact your insurance provider to find out whether they will cover psychotherapy services via telehealth. 

While each therapist sets their own hourly rate, most psychotherapy sessions cost between $100 and $160. These rates are frequently lower than comparable rates in this region. If your therapist is in network within your insurance, the co-pays you are charged will likely be lower. You may also use flexible-spending accounts to pay for sessions and/or submit statements for out-of-network reimbursement. Some clients have found that their place of worship have funds to help offset your costs. If you find that you are having trouble paying your bill, please talk with your therapist to discuss options. 

Beginning January 1, 2022, if you’re uninsured or you pay for health care bills yourself (don’t have your claims submitted to your health plan), health care providers and facilities will provide you with an estimate of expected charges before you get an item or service. This is called a “good faith estimate.” Providers and facilities must provide you with a good faith estimate if you request one, or after you’ve scheduled an item or service. It should include expected charges for the primary item or service you’re getting, and any other items or services that are provided as part of the same scheduled experience. While it is difficult to project actual costs for recovery as these are based on diagnosis, symptoms, and prognosis, you and your therapist can discuss expected frequency of visits and the range of costs that may be incurred within the calendar year.

As psychologists and counselors we are not physicians and so cannot prescribe medications. We do believe that medications can be an important aspect of your recovery. We will provide you with recommendations for psychiatrists or encourage you to talk to your primary care physician to see what might help you. As always, talk to your therapist about any concerns you have about your progress, including how you are feeling about medications you may be taking.

Appointment Request Form