Announcing New Fee Policies
Beginning March 1st, 2025
Announcement of Termination of Insurance Contracts and New Payment Policies
December 2, 2024
To all of my current and future clients:
After much consideration and with a heavy heart, I have made the difficult decision to move to private pay only. Beginning on March 1st, 2025, I will no longer be contracting with insurance companies for services provided. This means if you have been using insurance to pay for our sessions, my billing service will continue submitting insurance claims for sessions through February 28th, 2025, but after that date, my contracts with insurance carriers will be terminated and clients will, instead, be automatically charged a standard rate on the day of services using a credit card on file. Please understand, I love my work and have always wanted mental health service to be accessible and affordable, which is why I have continued to contract with insurance companies. I care deeply for my clients and realize this decision could cause financial hardship for some clients and, for others, this change could price our work outside of their budget. Unfortunately, I have felt increasing an ethical conflict as our work has been forced into the medical model. For this reason, I am giving clients plenty of notice and will also have a transition period for clients who need extra time to complete our work at a more manageable rate. The specifics of this transition are detailed below as well as possible ways clients may pursue reimbursement on their own and additional policies. Lastly, a fee schedule is attached at the end of this notice.
Transitional Period:
I understand some clients may have concerns about the affordability of continuing our work after March 1st. For clients who are established as of 12/2/2024 and initiated work when I had contracts with insurance in place, I will have a 6-month transition period (03/01/2025 - 08/31/2025), during which you may discuss any financial constraints/budgets and negotiate a temporary, affordable fee. Beyond August of 2025, fees will need additional discussion. For clients whose initial session is after 12/2/2024, I am happy to bill your insurance for sessions through February 2025 and for sessions after March 1st, 2025, you should expect to be billed at the full self-pay rate.
Using Out-of-network Insurance Benefits:
Your insurance plan may still cover a large portion of your therapy cost if you have “out-of-network” benefits for mental/behavioral health. Look up your plan details (specifically under the out-of-network Mental Health Outpatient Services). If you don’t have out-of-network benefits, you may be able to switch to a plan that does during the Open Enrollment period.
If you have out-of-network benefits, you will be able to log on to your client portal through SimplePractice (the scheduling and billing service I use) and print out your “Superbills”. They will have all the information your insurance company will need to process a claim for you. Your insurance carrier should be able to provide you with any additional forms to complete and an address for you to mail or email the documentation. Then your insurance carrier will issue a check directly to you for whatever portion is covered, often within a few weeks.
Please note, should your insurance carrier request my documents, as of March 1st, 2025 my documentation notes will be written to comply with my professional, licensure requirements versus additional standards by some insurance carriers and may not meet “medical necessity” requirements of some insurance carriers for reimbursement.
Health Savings Accounts:
Psychotherapy is often eligible for reimbursement with flexible spending accounts (FSA), health savings accounts (HAS), and health reimbursement accounts (HRA).
Payment Changes:
As of March 1st, 2024, clients will be required to have a card (debit, credit, FSA, HAS, or HRA card), on file. Sessions will be automatically charged by the billing system within 24 hours. If you prefer to pay by check, check payments will be due at the time of session. You may also pay with cash by I will not have change if you do not have the exact amount due. You can also pay ahead with cash and overpayments made in advance of sessions will go toward future sessions. Some clients have had special payment arrangements. I will no longer be able to manage special payment arrangements as the billing system will automatically collect payment within a day of service.
“No-show” and “Late Cancellation” Fees:
I will be reinstating “no-show” and “late cancellation” fees after the first incident. “No-Show” fees are charged when a client misses a scheduled appointment without notice. “Late Cancellation” fees are charged when a client must cancel within 24 hours of their scheduled appointments. Life happens to all of us, and we can all forget an appointment or accidentally schedule a conflict. I understand this therefore, the initial incident will be excused with no fee charged. After the first no-show or late cancellation, the appropriate fee will be charged. This is not a new policy, but it was largely relaxed and not enforced, which is my fault and my responsibility as most clients always encourage me to charge the fee.
Fee Schedule as of March 1st, 2025*
Initial Assessment Fees: $165
60 Minute Individual Session Fee: $150
60-Minute Couples Session Fee: $160
No-Show Fee: $60
Late-Cancellation Fee: $50
Letter Fee: $50
Document Completion: $50
*Fees are subject to exchange. Any changes will be posted 60 days in advance. Fees will be posted in the office as well as 60-day notices to fee changes.
Insurance companies with whom I am credentialed have been informed and are working to finalize the termination of our contract. Some of the information contained in this document may be delayed depending on their processes but, upon official contract termination, the practice changes outlined in this document will commence. I understand this is a big change and I am happy to address any questions or concerns you may have at our next session.
December 2, 2024
To all of my current and future clients:
After much consideration and with a heavy heart, I have made the difficult decision to move to private pay only. Beginning on March 1st, 2025, I will no longer be contracting with insurance companies for services provided. This means if you have been using insurance to pay for our sessions, my billing service will continue submitting insurance claims for sessions through February 28th, 2025, but after that date, my contracts with insurance carriers will be terminated and clients will, instead, be automatically charged a standard rate on the day of services using a credit card on file. Please understand, I love my work and have always wanted mental health service to be accessible and affordable, which is why I have continued to contract with insurance companies. I care deeply for my clients and realize this decision could cause financial hardship for some clients and, for others, this change could price our work outside of their budget. Unfortunately, I have felt increasing an ethical conflict as our work has been forced into the medical model. For this reason, I am giving clients plenty of notice and will also have a transition period for clients who need extra time to complete our work at a more manageable rate. The specifics of this transition are detailed below as well as possible ways clients may pursue reimbursement on their own and additional policies. Lastly, a fee schedule is attached at the end of this notice.
Transitional Period:
I understand some clients may have concerns about the affordability of continuing our work after March 1st. For clients who are established as of 12/2/2024 and initiated work when I had contracts with insurance in place, I will have a 6-month transition period (03/01/2025 - 08/31/2025), during which you may discuss any financial constraints/budgets and negotiate a temporary, affordable fee. Beyond August of 2025, fees will need additional discussion. For clients whose initial session is after 12/2/2024, I am happy to bill your insurance for sessions through February 2025 and for sessions after March 1st, 2025, you should expect to be billed at the full self-pay rate.
Using Out-of-network Insurance Benefits:
Your insurance plan may still cover a large portion of your therapy cost if you have “out-of-network” benefits for mental/behavioral health. Look up your plan details (specifically under the out-of-network Mental Health Outpatient Services). If you don’t have out-of-network benefits, you may be able to switch to a plan that does during the Open Enrollment period.
If you have out-of-network benefits, you will be able to log on to your client portal through SimplePractice (the scheduling and billing service I use) and print out your “Superbills”. They will have all the information your insurance company will need to process a claim for you. Your insurance carrier should be able to provide you with any additional forms to complete and an address for you to mail or email the documentation. Then your insurance carrier will issue a check directly to you for whatever portion is covered, often within a few weeks.
Please note, should your insurance carrier request my documents, as of March 1st, 2025 my documentation notes will be written to comply with my professional, licensure requirements versus additional standards by some insurance carriers and may not meet “medical necessity” requirements of some insurance carriers for reimbursement.
Health Savings Accounts:
Psychotherapy is often eligible for reimbursement with flexible spending accounts (FSA), health savings accounts (HAS), and health reimbursement accounts (HRA).
Payment Changes:
As of March 1st, 2024, clients will be required to have a card (debit, credit, FSA, HAS, or HRA card), on file. Sessions will be automatically charged by the billing system within 24 hours. If you prefer to pay by check, check payments will be due at the time of session. You may also pay with cash by I will not have change if you do not have the exact amount due. You can also pay ahead with cash and overpayments made in advance of sessions will go toward future sessions. Some clients have had special payment arrangements. I will no longer be able to manage special payment arrangements as the billing system will automatically collect payment within a day of service.
“No-show” and “Late Cancellation” Fees:
I will be reinstating “no-show” and “late cancellation” fees after the first incident. “No-Show” fees are charged when a client misses a scheduled appointment without notice. “Late Cancellation” fees are charged when a client must cancel within 24 hours of their scheduled appointments. Life happens to all of us, and we can all forget an appointment or accidentally schedule a conflict. I understand this therefore, the initial incident will be excused with no fee charged. After the first no-show or late cancellation, the appropriate fee will be charged. This is not a new policy, but it was largely relaxed and not enforced, which is my fault and my responsibility as most clients always encourage me to charge the fee.
Fee Schedule as of March 1st, 2025*
Initial Assessment Fees: $165
60 Minute Individual Session Fee: $150
60-Minute Couples Session Fee: $160
No-Show Fee: $60
Late-Cancellation Fee: $50
Letter Fee: $50
Document Completion: $50
*Fees are subject to exchange. Any changes will be posted 60 days in advance. Fees will be posted in the office as well as 60-day notices to fee changes.
Insurance companies with whom I am credentialed have been informed and are working to finalize the termination of our contract. Some of the information contained in this document may be delayed depending on their processes but, upon official contract termination, the practice changes outlined in this document will commence. I understand this is a big change and I am happy to address any questions or concerns you may have at our next session.
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