Office Policies

OFFICE POLICIES

Telepsychiatry

Telepsychiatry appointments are conducted through our Electronic Medical Record vendor (Valant) and require the activation of the Patient Portal (which the office staff will facilitate when the initial appointment is scheduled). We can also provide phone appointments for patients when requested or needed.

Appointments

Sessions are expected to start and end on time. If you are late, your appointment will still end at the scheduled time. For children and adolescents, the initial evaluation will last 2 hours, often split into two different sessions. For adults, the initial evaluation will generally be scheduled for 1 hour. Follow up appointments are typically 30 or 45 min depending on clinical needs and will be discussed between you and your provider. If you are late, your appointment will still end at the scheduled time and you will be charged for the time that was allotted for your full appointment. Similarly, the entire session will be charged if the patient chooses to end the session early.

Any missed appointment or any appointment cancelled with less than 48 hours notice will be charged the full amount of the visit. You can avoid this fee by providing adequate notice for cancellations.

If 4 appointments are missed (or cancelled without adequate notice), your care in our office will be terminated and you will be referred to an outside provider.

Payment/Insurance

If you are a self-pay patient or you have a high deductible insurance plan, you will be asked to pay at the time of service. We are happy to provide a receipt for any payment that you make.

Our office is out-of-network with all health insurances except for Medicare. However, we provide a full-service billing department that can submit claims to your insurance if requested by you. You will then be responsible for any deductible or balance that is not covered by your insurance. We recommend that you contact your insurance company and discuss your benefits with them including deductibles, copayments, etc.

In some instances, the insurance company will mail the check to you directly for services billed by our office. It is your responsibility to mail us either the original check or a personal check with the attached Explanation of Benefits (EOB) so that it can be applied properly to your account. If we do not receive your payment within 10 days of the insurance company issuing the check, your credit card will be charged and a processing fee of 3% will be added.

We accept credit cards (American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover) though they may incur a processing fee. We require that you maintain a credit card on file which will be charged for appointments, missed sessions, or any additional fees. We also accept payment by check. Any check that is returned will be charged an additional $25 penalty.

Medication Refills

All of your prescriptions will be provided during your appointment. Patients need to be seen regularly to provide medications, to review progress, and to monitor for side effects.

If your appointment is missed and prescriptions are requested, we will send them to your pharmacy for a maximum of two weeks and you will be scheduled for an appointment within that time frame. If your regular provider is unavailable, you may be asked to see another member of our clinical team for a single visit for appropriate monitoring.

We cannot refill medications for patients who have not been seen in the office for more than 90 days. A visit will be required in these situations before we can provide refills.

Since refill requests may take up to 48 hours to process, please be sure to keep your appointments as scheduled and contact us at least 48 hours prior to running out of medication.

Letters and Forms

Any letters or forms which require more than 5 minutes of time to complete will be charged based on a rate of $300/hour, which will be pro-rated based on the time required.

Emergencies

If you are experiencing suicidal or homicidal thoughts, please seek emergency help immediately by calling 911 or going to the nearest hospital emergency room. You may also text 741741 or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255), 201-262-HELP (4375), or the NJ Hope Line at 855- 654-6735.

Non-Emergencies

Please call the office at (201) 487-1240 and leave a detailed message including your name, telephone number, and the date and time of your call. Non-Emergencies may include medication refills, appointment cancellations, billing issues, letter, or medical record requests, etc.

Last Revision November, 2023