Payment Options

Insurance

Counseling services may be covered in full or in part by your health insurance or employee benefit plan. These days there are countless types of insurance plans in existence. Call your insurance carrier to check your benefits by asking the following questions:

• Do I have mental health benefits in addition to my health benefits? (Not always the case.)
• Is my therapist an in-network or out-of-network provider?
• How much does my plan cover for an out-of-network provider?
• What is my deductible? Has it been met? (On occasion there's a separate deductible that must be met just for mental health visits.)
• How many sessions per calendar year does my plan cover? What is my authorization number? (Bring this information to your first visit.)
• How much is my co-payment or rate per visit?
• Is approval required from my primary care physician?
• Is there anything else I need to know?

Then call us to discuss your options and to schedule an initial appointment. Failure to bring authorization and number of allowed visits to your first session will require us to charge you the regular self-pay rate until the insurance rate is determined.

FYI Regarding Insurance Plans

Many people choose not to use insurance for mental health services due to the following possibilities:

• Decrease in confidentiality
• Risk of "over-diagnosing" to meet an insurance company’s requirement of demonstrating medical need
• Direct involvement of managed care case managers in determining the number of sessions to which you are entitled

Confidentiality

All managed care plans (MCPs) involve direct clinical management by the plan’s case managers. If you access therapy through your MCP, it makes it necessary for your therapist to disclose anything and everything related to your case to your MCP. Even though we comply fully with HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) privacy standards, it is possible that your information will be stored in a computer system that could be accessed by anyone. This information could be used to your disadvantage should a legal problem arise.

Misdiagnosing and/or Over-diagnosing:

Some MCPs will not cover treatment unless it is considered a "medical necessity." This may mean the client has to "pretend" they are worse off than they are in order to receive benefits. Most MCPs do not cover marriage counseling or family therapy unless those are part of the treatment plan for a serious mental disorder or drug/alcohol problem. This situation puts both the therapist and client in a negative position. In any case, you should not be given a mental illness diagnosis that is more serious than what is true simply to get treatment paid by an MCP.

Difficulty Getting Authorization for Treatment

MCPs only allow a certain number of treatment sessions per calendar year for each plan. Many plans offer less than one session every other week, regardless of the severity of your issue. Some plans will determine when it is time to terminate treatment, even if you continue to be in distress or your issue has not been sufficiently solved. Also, you cannot automatically access your benefits. Most often you must go through referrals, several rounds of phone calls, authorizations and more. Furthermore, some MCPs will even dictate what the specific treatment plan should be, which is often subjective and may even be anti-therapeutic.

A standard therapy session consists of one hour (50 therapeutic minutes). Some prefer a more extended session (90 minutes), so we also have that option available to you. Fees are due and payable at the time of each session. We accept cash, check, cashier’s check, money order and major credit cards.

Should you choose not to use your insurance benefits or find that you do not have coverage to see us, our fees for self-pay clients are:

Reduced Fees

Reduced fee services are available from our licensed clinicians on a limited basis, and from our registered intern on a regular basis.

Emerald Park Office Center
2699 Stirling Road, Suite A-105
Hollywood, FL 33312
Phone: 954.989.8818
Fax: 954.989.8812