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.