Billing Policies
Please note:
We do accept HSA & FSA.
We are not under contract (“in-network”) with any insurance companies.
Why aren’t we under contract with insurance? Our colleague from Boston explains the reasons in-depth in her blog post. NPR also recently published an excellent article explaining why therapists are leaving health insurance networks.
We will provide you with a statement for insurance reimbursement (sometimes called a “superbill”) that you can use to seek reimbursement from your insurance company on an out-of-network basis.
Keep in mind that it is your responsibility to learn about your particular insurance plan and about what portion of our services they will cover.
Individual Psychotherapy & Counseling:
$275 per 60 minute individual therapy or relationship counseling session.
Cancellation Policy: at least 24 hours notice for all individual therapy or relationship counseling appointments, or they will be billed in full, see here for more info.
Group Psychotherapy & Counseling:
$90 per 90-minute session.
If you wish to seek reimbursement from your insurance company, you’ll need to receive a diagnosis. You may provide paperwork that establishes diagnosis from another provider (e.g., a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health provider you have seen) or you may schedule a 60-minute, one on one, psychiatric diagnostic evaluation, where we can determine whether and which diagnosis is appropriate. Scheduling a diagnostic evaluation is optional, would need to be scheduled separately, and would be billed at $275.
Cancellation Policy: weekly payments for groups and classes are only waived when a session is cancelled by the therapist leading the group/class. Although notifying your therapist that you cannot make it to a group/class session is very much appreciated, you will still be billed the weekly fee until you terminate your membership in the group/class.
Psychiatric Medication (Assessment & Management):
$300 for initial 60 minute intake session to discuss whether medications or other supplements could be helpful for you and what the best options would be.
$275 per month administrative fee to be a current patient. This applies if you decide to be under the care of one of our psychiatrists after having your initial intake session (e.g., by getting a prescription from them, scheduling a follow-up appointment with them, etc.), and will reoccur each month until services are cancelled.
$1 for each follow-up appointments for current patients, and you get phone calls and messages with your psychiatrist at no additional charge.
Cancellation and refund policy:
At least 24 hours notice of cancellation for intake and follow-up appointments, or you will be billed in full. No refunds are allowed for appointment fees, including the the initial intake session, under any circumstances.
By signing up for this service, you agree to automatically reoccurring monthly adminstrative fees. It will be your responsibility to contact us to cancel the reoccurring fee by requesting to be removed from under your doctor's care. No refunds are allowed for the reoccurring monthly fee past 5 days from the start of the monthly fee's billing period.
See here for more info.
*Note for those seeking insurance reimbursement: The monthly administrative fee does not have a CPT/procedure code per the American Medical Association. We have been told by our clients that many of their insurance providers say they will not reimburse without a CPT/procedure code, so we suggest checking in with your insurance provider first if you will be seeking reimbursement for that fee.
Psychological Testing/Assessments:
Note that most patients do not require any psychological testing. This is usually done because a school, employer, or other institution is requiring testing for an accommodation. However, we occasionally need to do testing when mental health issues are especially complex.
Price usually ranges being between $2500-$5000
*Please note: The total cost of each testing service includes diagnostic interview, administration and scoring of each instrument used, cost of testing material, report, and feedback session. The length and duration of the testing service is determined by the objective of the testing. Testing often involves the use of additional instruments to answer the referring question. Therefore, it is impossible for your psychologist to provide you with an exact estimate for the cost of services. However, your psychologist can provide a range that encompasses most scenarios for psychological testing. At the low end of the range are patients seeking psychological testing for ADHD-related concerns. For those patients, their total cost would be $2500. At the high end of the range are patients undergoing a full cognitive, personality and neuropsychological battery. For those patients, their total cost can be up to $8000. There will be no “surprise” testing sessions. We will always communicate clearly about it with you in person, via phone, via email, or some other means before scheduling a single or multiple psychological testing session for you.
HSA and FSA
Health savings accounts (HSA) and flexible spending accounts (FSA) can be used to pay for medical expenses such as therapy and can often significantly decrease the cost of treatment. Please feel free to use either of these as your means of payment if you have them as a medical benefit through your employer.
Taxes
Healthcare services are not taxed in WA State, so you will not have to pay any tax on top of what you pay for therapy and psychiatric care.
Medical expenses, including out-of-pocket costs for psychotherapy, can sometimes be deducted on your income taxes. You should speak with an accounting professional to determine whether you would be eligible for such a deduction.
Insurance
If you decide to seek reimbursement from your insurance company, we will provide you with a detailed invoice (insurance companies call these a "superbill") that will help you in this process. It usually only takes a couple of minutes to submit a claim and your insurance company's claims person can walk you through what steps to take if you have any questions.
Keep in mind that it is your responsibility to learn about your particular insurance plan and about what portion of our services they will cover.
It is a good idea to call your insurance company if you have any questions about your insurance plan. The number for your insurance company should be listed on your insurance card.
Note that some insurance companies have very particular rules and complicated reimbursement structures, so you may want to ask about your deductible, about the allowed amounts, about which services they will cover, and if there are any restrictions on which kinds of providers you can see.