Professional Fees
The hourly rate for psychotherapy varies depending on which therapist you are seeing. The actual fees for services rendered will be discussed upon contacting our office manager, Karen, at 614.451.3877. The fee for the first session will be more than the fee for a regular individual session because it includes the computerized testing that is done prior to the first session. In addition to weekly appointments, it is our practice to charge for other professional services you may require, such as report writing, attendance at meetings, consultations at the hospital or with other professionals which you have authorized. Telephone conversations with your therapist other than to discuss your bill or change appointments will be charged in 15 minute increments and are not always reimbursed by insurance companies.

Billing and Payments
You will be expected to pay for each session at the time it is held, unless your therapist agrees otherwise or is a panel provider for an insurance carrier which requires another arrangement. In circumstances of unusual financial hardship, your therapist may be willing to negotiate a fee arrangement.

If your account is more than 60 days in arrears and suitable arrangements for payment have not been agreed to, The Center has the option of using legal means to secure payment, including collection agencies or small claims court. (If such legal action is necessary, the costs of bringing that proceeding will be included in the claim.) In most cases, the only information which your therapist will release about a client's treatment would be the client's name, the nature of the services provided, and the amount due.

Insurance Reimbursement
In order for us to set realistic treatment goals and priorities, it is important to evaluate what resources are available to pay for your treatment. If you have a health insurance policy, it may provide some coverage for mental health treatment. Your therapist will provide you with whatever assistance they can in facilitating your receipt of the benefits to which you are entitled, including filling out forms as appropriate. However, you, and not your insurance company, are responsible for full payment of the fee which we have agreed to. Therefore, it is very important that you find out exactly what mental health services your insurance policy covers.

You should carefully read the section in your insurance coverage booklet which describes mental health services. If you have questions, you should call your plan administrator and inquire. Of course, your therapist will provide you with whatever information they can based on their experience and will be happy to try to assist you in deciphering the information you receive from your carrier. If necessary, to resolve confusion, your therapist will be willing to call the carrier on your behalf.

The escalation of the cost of health care has resulted in an increasing level of complexity regarding insurance benefits which sometimes makes it difficult to determine exactly how much mental health coverage is available. 'Managed health care plans' such as HMOs and PPOs often require advanced authorization before they will provide reimbursement for mental health services. These plans are often oriented toward a short-term treatment approach designed to resolve specific problems that are interfering with one's usual level of functioning. It may be necessary to seek additional approval after a certain number of sessions. In our experience, while quite a lot can be accomplished in short-term therapy, many clients feel that more services are necessary after insurance benefits expire. If a managed care plan will not allow us to provide services to you once your benefits are no longer available, your therapist will do their best to find another provider who will help you continue your treatment.

You should also be aware that most insurance agreements require you to authorize your therapist to provide a clinical diagnosis, and sometimes additional clinical information such as a treatment plan or summary or, in rare cases, a copy of the entire record. This information will become part of the insurance companies files, and in all probability, some of it will be computerized. All insurance companies claim to keep such information confidential, but once it is in their hands, we have no control over what they do with it. In some cases they may share the information with a national medical information data bank. If you request it, The Center will provide you with a copy of any report which is submitted.

Once we have all of the information about your insurance coverage, we will discuss what we can expect to accomplish with the benefits that are available and what will happen if the insurance benefits run out before you feel ready to end our sessions. It is important to remember that you always have the right to pay for our services yourself and avoid the complexities which are described above.

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