FAQs and Policies

A 15 min Introductory Phone call is complimentary and will help determine if this practice is the right fit for you.

Following this introduction, your 60 min Psychiatric Diagnostic Evaluation appointment may be scheduled. As a new patient, you must ensure you have completed the new patient intake forms prior to arriving for your appointment as your doctor will need to review these to optimize your visit. Once the appointment has been scheduled, a link to these forms will also be emailed to you which will direct you to a HIPAA compliant secure portal where you will be able to access these forms and complete the information requested.

It is very important that you complete these forms 24 hours prior to your appointment otherwise the appointment will be automatically cancelled and you will need to reschedule.

Unlike other doctor’s offices, there is no receptionist, but rest assured, your doctor will come out to receive you at your scheduled appointment time. Please remember to bring your photo ID and a form of payment to your appointment.

Out of respect for scheduled times of other patients, unfortunately we cannot extend your appointment block to accommodate for form completion.

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (MD or DO) that has completed Medical School and Residency, with additional specialized training in mental health, who can provide Medication evaluations as well as Psychotherapy services.

In order to provide comprehensive care, we will collaborate with your other doctors and mental health professionals. Having your care providers involved and working as a closely integrated team is key to effectively managing your care.

Yes, we do charge a fee for all scheduled appointments, with the exception of the complimentary 15 min Introductory Phone Call.

To determine safe and effective treatment recommendations, your care options must be thoroughly explored with the psychiatrist. We do have to bill for the time booked for all treatment sessions, even in situations that you might not agree with the recommendations, or if it is later determined that this practice cannot support your care and you may need to be referred out.

We are considered Out of Network (“OON”) for health insurance / managed care plans, which generally means you file a claim with your insurance plan after our visit, they will directly reimburse you at their standard rates.

We make it easy for you by providing you with a "Superbill" which you submit directly to your insurance provider for reimbursement. The Superbill is an itemized receipt that also lists out the diagnostic codes that insurance companies need to process the claim.

Almost all plans reimburse participants, depending on the plan & coverage options. In some cases (for example if your insurance provider lacks network adequacy of In-Network providers who are actively taking patients) they may be legally required to provide you OON coverage even if your policy does not carry it.

I encourage you to contact your health insurance provider to understand their policies.

For more information and some helpful tips, check out our Insurance page at kismetpsych.com/insurance

Consultation appointments are conducted in person due to increasingly stringent Federal guidelines regarding specific regulated medications that require in person visits on a periodic basis.

Mental health treatment involves regularly scheduled face-to-face meetings. For patients that are on stable doses of medications or are in maintenance psychotherapy, these follow up treatment appointments can move to a virtual setting.

Your journey begins with a Complimentary 15 min Introductory Phone Call. This conversation does not establish a treatment relationship. This complimentary phone call will briefly explore your reasons for seeking treatment and help determine if our practice is the right fit for your care.

The next step is to schedule a 60 minute Psychiatric Diagnostic Evaluation. During this appointment, we will review your psychiatric, social, and medical history, and I may recommend further diagnostic tests as we begin to establish goals for our work together. If after this appointment, if there is a mutual agreement to continue care, we will continue to gather more information at subsequent visits as we continue to review your history, examine our unfolding therapeutic relationship, and determine how we can help you reach your treatment goals.

As part of your overall care, we may need to gather more information at subsequent visits as we continue to review your history, examine our unfolding therapeutic relationship, and work towards helping you reach your treatment goals.

The duration and frequency of our appointments may vary depending on the established treatment goals. For example, Medication management appointments visits are generally 20 - 25 minutes long but can be shorter based on the need, whereas Psychotherapy appointments, with or without medication management, are generally 45 - 50 minutes in length. Medication doesn't always have to be the first place to start, but if it is, we will medically monitor for symptom remission at scheduled follow up appointments.

It is important to know that Medication doesn't always have to be the first place to start. Many patients benefit from psychotherapy as the main modality, but this also requires staying consistent with sessions.

Even if you start with therapy, we can always offer treatment to include pharmacological options if may not be progressing with therapy alone. In such cases, we will medically monitor for symptom remission at scheduled follow up appointments. If you also in therapy, we can explore how medication can support neuroplasticity in tandem to help you manage through your experiences.

If you have been prescribed medication, physical and emotional symptoms are monitored and if required, medication adjustments will be made.

This is also a good time to talk about any time-limited discomfort your body may have adjusting to some medications, if it occurs. This is where being provided brief supportive interventions in order to gain an approach on how to manage side effects, particularly in instances when holding on through the discomfort of the adjustment period will ultimately reveal its benefits. This is likewise an opportunity to explore other options if appropriate.

Medications such as stimulants (eg. for ADHD), tranquilizers (for anxiety), and opiate agonists are regulated by the DEA. Irrespective of which medications you have been prescribed, we conduct an independent evaluation of your symptoms. This is a standard practice that ensures safety, in addition to making sure that you are taking medications that are aligned with updated scientific practices and standard of care. For example, conditions such as ADHD may require you bring your records of psychological/psychometric testing. We will ask you to provide these if you already have them to guide the assessment and treatment. If you do not, we can refer you to a list of psychologists who can conduct the testing for you.

In general, if you have been taking high doses of these classes of drugs (stimulants, tranquilizers, opiate agonists, etc.), even in instances that you may have been safely taking it this way for years, we are unable to support the excessive prescribing of controlled or addictive drugs. We are open to reviewing your history on a case-by-case basis, and we can also do our best to help you lower the dose if you might be too dependent on certain medications.

Talking things out in therapy allows you to have a safe space to express yourself at a pace that is driven by the comfort level and stress tolerance you feel you can manage. At times, the clinician will offer a perspective and a gentle push to assist you in targeting both immediate stressors as well as underlying elements that can influence the quality of your experiences.

Psychotherapy can be offered independently or can be coupled with medication management that will explore your stressors, triggers, and deeply imprinted themes.

This practice provides medication management and treatment only for the maintenance phase of care with buprenorphine/naloxone (opiate use disorder) and mild alcohol use disorder or alcohol use in remission.

We can provide suboxone induction which will require 2-3 consecutive day office visits to optimize your suboxone to the correct therapeutic dose. Labwork may be required before an induction can be started to ensure safety in the outpatient setting. A consent form and behavioral agreement must be signed to be prescribed suboxone by this practice. In addition, routine drug screen monitoring and random pill counts are part of the treatment protocol for continuation of care.

We do not provide any other addiction services for other drugs. We do not offer counseling services, psychotherapy services or any ancillary services for addiction management. The patient is expected to be independently enrolled in peer/self-help and regular professional counseling with a chemical dependency counselor as indicated.

Ketamine is most effective when administered in combination with active therapy, typically within the same day as the Ketamine administration. The oral troches / lozenges can be safely self-administered just prior to your therapy session with your own certified Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) provider.

A consent form and behavioral agreement must be signed to be prescribed ketamine by this practice.

The KAP therapy spots are limited, but you may utilize a KAP therapist outside this practice. We are unable to prescribe ketamine lozenges for personal or recreational use outside of a therapy session, and the patient is expected to be independently established in an active treatment relationship with a KAP certified therapist for their sessions. If your KAP therapy is outside this practice, that KAP therapist must coordinate your care directly with us including the frequency of treatment sessions in order for us to dispense the correct quantity for therapeutic use. In addition, we require routine drug screen monitoring to ensure safety as part of the treatment protocol for continuation of care. If you are not currently under the care of a KAP certified therapist, we can offer you some names of providers that are certified who you may reach out to inquire if they are accepting new clients.

Payment of fees is due at the start of your appointment visit so as not to interrupt your session time towards the end. Fees for other services may include but are not limited to session fees, return phone calls, calling in refills outside of scheduled appointments, requested letters, missed appointments/late cancellation, administrative services, or medical records.

Through our 15 min complimentary Introductory Phone Call, we do our best to determine if a Psychiatric Diagnostic evaluation within our practice is the right fit for your care. But the only way to properly determine a safe and effective treatment plan is within the appointment by exploring your care with the psychiatrist during your session. In addition, we do have to bill for the time used in all sessions and clinical care, even in situations where you might not agree with the recommendations, or if it is later determined that this practice cannot support your care and you may need to be referred out.

As part of the Diagnostic Evaluation, review of prior records is included at no extra charge, unless it extends beyond 30 minutes of physician time. For established patients, brief phone calls under 10 minutes to your other clinicians, or brief responses to an email clarifying information, are included at no extra charge. These costs are factored into our standard rates. However, further assessment of symptoms, frequent requests for call backs, calls taking beyond 10 minutes, high-volume email exchanges, or intensive care coordination, will incur charges prorated to 15-minute intervals.

We accept all major credit cards (MC, Visa, HSA, etc) and Cash, and payment is due at the visit. We do not accept gift cards as payment. Established long term therapy patients may pay by personal check/cash once monthly, if appropriate and mutually agreed upon with the clinician.

Irrespective of your payment method, we require that you complete a credit/debit card authorization form through a protected online portal. A secure link will be emailed to you which will direct you to register for our patient portal where you will enter the information. The card information will be placed on file through a credit card processor that securely stores the information according to industry standards. Please note that once entered, we do not have access to the actual number other than the last four digits. We will charge the payment method on file at the start of the session according to our fee policies, unless you choose to pay by cash. Any fees not paid at the time services have been rendered will be billed to your card the day the fees are due. If arrangements for delinquent payment have not been made, we have the option of terminating treatment and/or using legal means to secure the payment. We may also use a collection service to collect outstanding fees not received after thirty days of the appointment or service.

To avoid cancellation charges, please cancel appointments at least 24 hours before the scheduled appointment. We understand there are times when you must miss an appointment due to emergencies or obligations to work or family. However, when you do not call 24 hours in advance to cancel an appointment, you may be preventing another patient from getting a much-needed treatment. Conversely, the situation may arise where another patient fails to cancel and we are unable to schedule you for treatment, due to a seemingly “full” appointment book.

If an appointment is not canceled at least 24 hours in advance of your appointment time or you fail to show up for your appointment, you will be charged the full fee for the session block of time.

If you arrive late for your appointment, we are unable to extend the time beyond your scheduled appointment, and you will still be charged the full fee for the session block of time.

We are not able to honor any exceptions to the above policy.

This practice does not discuss sensitive clinical matters through text messaging or email. It is best for all clinical matters to be discussed inside the setting of a scheduled appointment. In the event you need to reach your clinician outside of scheduled appointments for concerns, there is no charge for the occasional brief phone call (<10 minutes). If you need to contact your clinician, please do so via phone, calls are generally returned within 48 hours on weekdays and during business hours.

Lab work and test results can be communicated to you electronically through HIPAA compliant means.

In the event of a life-threatening psychiatric or medical emergency, please go directly to the nearest emergency room or call 9-1-1 rather than waiting for a call back. Note that text or email communication is not for urgent issues or for emergencies and further, is generally not responded to after hours as a prompt response cannot be guaranteed. Email communication is for non-urgent administrative matters only, such as booking or changing appointments or inquiring about non-urgent or routine medication refills.

Note that all members of your treatment team within our practice (therapist, psychiatrist, administrative staff) may have access to the voicemails and emails and they are considered part of the medical record.

You may receive check-in messages such as mental health questionnaires from our practice through Elevate Health’s Osmind portal. While attempts are made to keep emails and voicemails secure and confidential, security breaches can occur over wi-fi and cellular networks, and privacy cannot be guaranteed.

It is our practice to take vacation and attend professional conferences or engage in other work travel. Whenever possible, we will give you advance notice regarding absences. We will encourage you to reach out to us prior to any planned leave, however, as this practice is limited, for urgent and emergency situations do not wait for a return call and please go to your nearest emergency room.