No, I do not file claims with insurance companies. This means that the full fee for my service is due at the time of the appointment. However, if you choose, you may of course submit claims to your insurance independently. I provide you with service bills (super bills) that include all relevant procedure codes and diagnostic information. Some insurance plans may reimburse you well for mental health services and out-of-network services while others may not. Reimbursement rates from insurance carriers vary greatly and are contingent on a number of factors. To determine your mental health benefits, you may contact your insurance provider by calling the customer service number listed on the back of your card. Sometimes mental health services have a separate phone number – it may be listed as “behavioral health” on your card. You may be asked for my NPI number (National Provider Identifier) and/or EIN (Employee ID Number). For security purposes, I do not provide these numbers on my website. If the insurance provider does not already have my EIN or NPI number, I will be happy to give those to you by phone. Tell your insurance provider that they can verify my credentials through the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. Please contact me if you have other questions about insurance benefit determination or about my fee-for-service policy.
To determine if you have out-of-network mental health coverage through your insurance carrier, the first thing you should do is call them. Check your coverage carefully and make sure you understand their answers.
Please note: If your insurance does offer out-of-network coverage and reimburses for services, make sure they will send payment to you directly. I do not receive checks from insurance companies and will send them back if they are erroneously written out to me. Since I am already paid in full at the time of each appointment, I stay out of any financial transactions between my patients and their insurance companies.
Some helpful questions you can ask your insurance provider:
- What are my out-of-network mental health benefits?
- What is the out-of-network coverage amount per therapy session?
- How many out-of-network therapy sessions does my plan cover?
- Is approval required from my primary care physician?