An initial evaluation session is up to 75 minutes. This gives us time to start to know each other and for you to talk about your problems, background, difficulties, symptoms, and other treatment that you may have had in the past, including what was and was not helpful. Understanding your history and current life experiences helps me understand you. Asking questions about your childhood and adult experiences helps me know what might benefit you. Any previous diagnosis helps me know how other providers have understood your problems. You may have questions for me or about me which can be discussed also.
My goal will be to understand how to best help you.
One visit may not be enough to clarify your situation and determine a diagnosis and treatment plan. Follow-up appointments are usually scheduled for 45 minutes.
The initial consultation process gives us both time to determine if we can work together.
While all sessions are done via secure video, you must be in the state of Michigan. You should have confidence in the security and speed of your Internet, and have physical privacy during sessions.
The length of treatment depends on numerous factors and is impossible to answer simply. In part, it depends on your goals and objectives for the treatment. This question is best addressed during the initial evaluation, where your goals can be discussed. Like any other area of life, some situations have relatively straightforward solutions, and other problems take more time to sort out.
In most cases, starting to be able to talk about your concerns and problems starts to give new perspective, hope and provides improvement.
The frequency of sessions will be discussed and determined collaboratively during the evaluation. Typically, weekly, 45-minute sessions can be helpful in many situations. More frequent sessions can be beneficial and may help people make progress more quickly. As in other areas of medicine, some conditions can be resolved in relatively short time, some take more time, and others can be managed with maintenance treatment.
Your personalized schedule for treatment will be discussed during sessions.
In case of a clinical emergency or a life-threatening situation, please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. You may have them call and leave a message for me at 734-358-4555.
Appointment times are reserved exclusively for you, so a missed appointment means that someone else cannot take advantage of that opportunity. I request that all patients give at least 24-hour notice by voicemail or text message if they will miss an appointment. Missed appointments not cancelled within 24-hours of the scheduled appointment time will be automatically charged the full visit fee.
I do not contract with or accept insurance. My practice is fee-for-service and is considered out-of-network for PPO's. I will provide statements that can be submitted to your insurance carrier for whatever reimbursement they allow, which they will pay directly to you.
My goal is to provide more time and access for my patients. Insurance companies frequently put arbitrary limits on psychiatric care not based on the needs of the patients.
Contacting your insurance carrier with the telephone number on the back of your insurance card before your initial session will help you understand your insurance carrier’s coverage for psychiatric services. You may want to ask your insurance carrier what they reimburse for psychiatric services by a doctor who does not bill insurance companies or accept payment directly from them.
Please call to inquire.
If you would like me to help with an appeal, I will do so on a time-based basis. This includes time to fill out forms and talk to gatekeepers or adjusters if necessary.
I will be glad to discuss alternative medications that may be more cost-effective if your insurance does not cover a specific medication.
I do not participate with Medicare. If you have Medicare and would like to work with me, Medicare requires that you sign a Medicare Private Contract and agree not to submit bills to Medicare for reimbursement.
If you need help with completion of paperwork for healthcare, life insurance, Worker’s Compensation or disability insurance, I will help. Please have the paperwork at your appointment so we can address questions during your visit. If there is not enough time to take care of everything during the appointment, additional meetings can be scheduled, or I will charge you for the time it takes outside of our appointment to take care of these matters.
Medications and refills should be prescribed during scheduled appointments. I try to ensure that you have enough medication for your next scheduled appointment. This allows me to discuss ongoing needs with you and document the effectiveness of medications.
Pharmacies frequently send out refill requests whether patients are due or not. I only respond to patient refill requests, preferably during appointments. Forty-eight business hours are required to process between-visit refill requests. The current credit card on fill will be charged 15 minutes to cover the time to review your medications, contact the pharmacy, check necessary databases, and make appropriate notes.
Please disable Pharmacy Auto-Refill Requests. Please tell your pharmacies to disable auto-refill requests for my prescriptions. Since refills are provided to last until the next scheduled appointment, there is no need for pharmacies to send auto-refill fax requests to me.
If your pharmacy needs prior authorization for insurance to cover the cost of a prescription, have them fax a form to me via CoverMyMeds.com at 248-671-5178. Time spent reviewing your chart and preparing authorizations again will be charged on a time basis, in 15 minute increments.
If you pharmacy has questions, they can reach me at 734-358-4555 or 734-662-9191.