Office Policies
Payment and Insurance
Fees are due at the time of service. Since services are provided via telehealth, payment may only be made by credit card (including FSA/HSA cards). I am not contracted with any insurance panels. You may have out-of-network benefits available on your insurance plan. If you choose to seek reimbursement from your insurance company, I can provide you with a superbill. I do not bill insurance directly for any services. Out-of-network benefits vary, so I recommend contacting your insurance company to inquire about reimbursement.
Good Faith Estimate for Cost of Services
Beginning January 1, 2022, healthcare providers must comply with the No Surprises Act (H.R. 133). This new federal law is meant to protect consumers from receiving surprise medical bills for out-of-network healthcare services, such as when a patient may be treated by an out-of-network doctor while staying in an in-network inpatient hospital. Although costs for therapy services are already clearly provided at the time services are initiated, the No Surprises Act requires all healthcare providers to provide a good faith estimate of expected charges for therapy services.
You have the right to receive a "Good Faith Estimate" explaining how much your medical care will cost. Under the law, healthcare providers need to give patients who don't have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.
Fees are due at the time of service. Since services are provided via telehealth, payment may only be made by credit card (including FSA/HSA cards). I am not contracted with any insurance panels. You may have out-of-network benefits available on your insurance plan. If you choose to seek reimbursement from your insurance company, I can provide you with a superbill. I do not bill insurance directly for any services. Out-of-network benefits vary, so I recommend contacting your insurance company to inquire about reimbursement.
Good Faith Estimate for Cost of Services
Beginning January 1, 2022, healthcare providers must comply with the No Surprises Act (H.R. 133). This new federal law is meant to protect consumers from receiving surprise medical bills for out-of-network healthcare services, such as when a patient may be treated by an out-of-network doctor while staying in an in-network inpatient hospital. Although costs for therapy services are already clearly provided at the time services are initiated, the No Surprises Act requires all healthcare providers to provide a good faith estimate of expected charges for therapy services.
You have the right to receive a "Good Faith Estimate" explaining how much your medical care will cost. Under the law, healthcare providers need to give patients who don't have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.
- You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment, and hospital fees.
- Make sure your healthcare provider gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least 1 business day before our medical service or item. You can also ask your healthcare provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.
- If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.
- Make sure to save a copy of a picture of your Good Faith Estimate.
Cancellation Policy
If you are unable to keep your scheduled appointment, please provide 24-hours notice. Because your appointment time has been reserved for you and is therefore not available for others to reserve, same-day cancellations will be charged at the full session fee.
If you are unable to keep your scheduled appointment, please provide 24-hours notice. Because your appointment time has been reserved for you and is therefore not available for others to reserve, same-day cancellations will be charged at the full session fee.
Limits of Confidentiality
To meet the professional standard of care, psychotherapists are expected to take reasonable steps to prevent suicide and to attempt to ensure safety with the least possible violation of the client’s privacy and self-determination. If a client makes a serious threat of physical violence to an identifiable victim, the therapist is required by law to notify the police and the intended victim. If a therapist has reason to suspect that a child, elderly adult or dependent adult is being abused or neglected, the therapist is mandated by law to make a report to the appropriate agency.
To meet the professional standard of care, psychotherapists are expected to take reasonable steps to prevent suicide and to attempt to ensure safety with the least possible violation of the client’s privacy and self-determination. If a client makes a serious threat of physical violence to an identifiable victim, the therapist is required by law to notify the police and the intended victim. If a therapist has reason to suspect that a child, elderly adult or dependent adult is being abused or neglected, the therapist is mandated by law to make a report to the appropriate agency.
Social Media Policy
The prevalence of social media creates important considerations for mental health professionals. Most importantly, mental health professionals have a legal and ethical responsibility to protect your privacy and confidentiality. We also have an ethical responsibility to avoid dual relationships. Examples of dual relationships include (but are not limited to): therapists becoming friends with clients and seeing them socially or therapists seeking professional services, such as accounting or contract work, from current or former clients.
To protect your confidentiality and to maintain professional boundaries that protect the important work that we do together, I have adopted the following policies regarding social media:
Business Review Sites
You may find my practice listed on sites such as Yelp, Healthgrades, Yahoo Local, Bing, or other Internet directories. Some of these sites include forums in which users rate their providers and add reviews. Many of these sites comb search engines for business listings and automatically add listings regardless of whether the business has created a presence on the site. If you should find my listing on any of these sites, please know that my listing is NOT a request for a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from clients. The California Code of Ethics for Marriage & Family Therapists prohibits solicitation of testimonials from clients.
Of course, you have a right to express yourself on any site you wish. However, due to confidentiality laws, I cannot respond to any review on any website, regardless of whether the review is positive or negative. You should also be aware that if you are using business review sites to communicate indirectly with me about your feelings about our work, there is a very good possibility that I may never see your review. If we are working together, I hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to our work directly into the therapy process. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide we are not a good fit.
This is not meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy with me wherever and with whomever you like. You are more than welcome to disclose that I'm your therapist or share your feelings about the treatment I provided to you, in any forum of your choosing. However, I encourage you to take your own privacy and confidentiality as seriously as I take my commitment of confidentiality to you. Confidentiality means that I cannot tell people that you are my client, even if you state that you are. I encourage you to use discretion for protection of your own privacy.
Use of Email and Text Messaging
I use email and text messaging with clients only with the client's written permission and for scheduling purposes only. Please do not email or text message me content related to your therapy sessions, as email and text are not completely secure and confidential. I cannot guarantee confidentiality of communication sent via email or text message.
If you have questions or concerns about any of the above policies, please bring them to my attention so that we can discuss them.
The prevalence of social media creates important considerations for mental health professionals. Most importantly, mental health professionals have a legal and ethical responsibility to protect your privacy and confidentiality. We also have an ethical responsibility to avoid dual relationships. Examples of dual relationships include (but are not limited to): therapists becoming friends with clients and seeing them socially or therapists seeking professional services, such as accounting or contract work, from current or former clients.
To protect your confidentiality and to maintain professional boundaries that protect the important work that we do together, I have adopted the following policies regarding social media:
- I do not accept friend requests, connections, or any type of contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site. This is to protect your privacy and preserve the integrity of our work together.
- I do maintain a professional Facebook page where I share blog posts, practice updates, articles and other things that I think may be of interest to people familiar with my work. You are welcome to follow my professional page if you so choose. However, I do not address specific questions or comments related to any posts on my professional Facebook page.
- I do not follow clients on any form of social media or blog. My primary concern is your privacy. If there are things from your online presence that you wish to share with me, please bring them to session where we can view and discuss them together.
- Social media sites are not secure and confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, please do not message me through any social media site. You may contact me through my website or by phone or email.
Business Review Sites
You may find my practice listed on sites such as Yelp, Healthgrades, Yahoo Local, Bing, or other Internet directories. Some of these sites include forums in which users rate their providers and add reviews. Many of these sites comb search engines for business listings and automatically add listings regardless of whether the business has created a presence on the site. If you should find my listing on any of these sites, please know that my listing is NOT a request for a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from clients. The California Code of Ethics for Marriage & Family Therapists prohibits solicitation of testimonials from clients.
Of course, you have a right to express yourself on any site you wish. However, due to confidentiality laws, I cannot respond to any review on any website, regardless of whether the review is positive or negative. You should also be aware that if you are using business review sites to communicate indirectly with me about your feelings about our work, there is a very good possibility that I may never see your review. If we are working together, I hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to our work directly into the therapy process. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide we are not a good fit.
This is not meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy with me wherever and with whomever you like. You are more than welcome to disclose that I'm your therapist or share your feelings about the treatment I provided to you, in any forum of your choosing. However, I encourage you to take your own privacy and confidentiality as seriously as I take my commitment of confidentiality to you. Confidentiality means that I cannot tell people that you are my client, even if you state that you are. I encourage you to use discretion for protection of your own privacy.
Use of Email and Text Messaging
I use email and text messaging with clients only with the client's written permission and for scheduling purposes only. Please do not email or text message me content related to your therapy sessions, as email and text are not completely secure and confidential. I cannot guarantee confidentiality of communication sent via email or text message.
If you have questions or concerns about any of the above policies, please bring them to my attention so that we can discuss them.