Office Policies
Administrative policies that are important to know when visiting our office:
Our Staff is dedicated to establishing a caring and comprehensive practice to diagnose and treat mental health illness. We ask that our patients adhere to the following guidlines as means of optimizing their experience and treatment while under the care of our office. Please notify our staff of any changes made to your name, address, telephone numbers or insurance. Always be truthful with the information you give to the physician, nurse practitioner and staff. To achieve successful treatment, always follow the treatment plan given to you by your clinician.
Appointments
Initial Visit - New Patient
- New patients are required to bring completed 'Patient Registration' Form (available on this website under "RESOURCES" tab) along with photo identification such as driver's license, insurance card(s) and a copy of any pertinent records from your previous treating provider. You can also pick up the Patient Registration Form at our office during business hours before your scheduled new patient appointment.
- We highly recommend new patients establish with a Primary Care Provider (PCP) before being seen with one of our mental health providers.
- Please bring your current psychotropic medication prescription bottles with you at your initital appoinment.
Prescriptions and Refills
- Prescriptions are sent electronically, and sometimes written or faxed, at the time of your appointment with sufficient quantities and refills, if necessary, to last until your next appointment. If by chance you run out of medication before your next appointment, please call our office or your pharmacy.
- Refill requests called in after 3:00 p.m. may not be sent to the pharmacy until the following business day.
- Prescription requests for Schedule II medications (i.e. Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, Dexedrine, Vyvanse, etc.) must be requested at least one business day in advance for pick-up at the office.
- If you request the presciption to be mailed, please allow 5 business days to receive your prescription. Any lost prescriptions will NOT be renewed until next fill date. A $5.00 administrative fee will be incurred for any prescriptions mailed. Please note we only mail prescriptions to those patients living outside of Sarasota County and under special circumstances authorized by your clinician.
- Patients that have been prescribed controlled medications are requested to use the same pharmacy each time for refills.
- Patients may be required to sign a Controlled Substance Contract with this office.
- Controlled Substance prescriptions will only be sent for 30 day supply. We DO NOT send 90 day / 3 month supply for controlled substance medications to local or mail order pharmacy.
Forms, Letters, Telephone Calls & Email
- Patients will be billed for time spent filling out forms and dictation of letters. Minimum charge is $25.00 per form, document or letter. This includes documents for disability.
- We reserve the right to bill you telephone calls between you and your clinician for the following reasons: excessive calls, you have not been in for an appointment for more than 90 days, your clinician requested we bill you for service provided.
- It is often difficult for our clinical staff to immediately respond to telephone calls. If your situation is urgent, please notify the receptionist at the time of your call and we will do our best to facilitate a timely response.
- If you are in an emergency situation, please call 911 or go directly to the nearest emergency department. Our office is not setup to handle emergencies.
- As a courtesy, we have an automated appointment reminder system that will call the day before your scheduled appointment. If your appointment is on Monday, then you will receive your call Friday. Again, this is done as a courtesy and not a requirement. You are responsible for showing up for your appointment.
- We do not have email capability between patient and this office due to privacy issues.
Termination of Care
Either party can terminate the clinician/patient relationship for any reason he or she deems appropriate. Reasons that could lead to termination of care include, but are not limited to:
- Providing misleading or untruthful information
- Not following the agreed treatment plan
- Using medication outside of the prescribed directions resulting in requests for early refills
- Excessive, unwarranted telephone calls
- Failure to keep scheduled appointments
- Failure to comply with financial policies
- Aggressive, abusive or inappropriate behavior
- Breech of the controlled substance contract
Emergencies
Please dial 911 or go to your local hospital emergency room if you feel it is a life threatening event. Our office is not setup for walk-in emergencies.
If you feel that you have a high priority issue and need to speak to your treating clinician, please abide by the following guidelines:
- During Office Hours: call and talk directly with one of our staff. Do not leave emergency messages on office voice mail, as these messages may not be answered until the end of the workday or next business day.
- After hours: call our office number at (941) 488-8884 and listen to the option to reach our on call clinician. If you have not received a call back in 15-20 minutes, please call the office number again. As with any emergency, you always have the option of dialing 911.
Hospitalization
If hospitalization is required, we refer to Bayside Behavioral / Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) in Sarasota, FL or Riverside Behavioral in Punta Gorda, FL. Our clinicans choose not to have admitting privileges at these hospitals. Please inform the staff at hospital you are seen by our office for your outpatient mental health treatment. We request that you have the hospital send us your medical records and discharge summary.
Financial Policy
- As a courtesy, we will only require your designated co-pay or deductible (unless otherwise indicated by your insurance plan).
- Payment is due at the time services are rendered.
- We will file your primary insurance claim on your behalf. If you have Medicare as primary and you have a secondary plan, we will accept the secondary carrier only if it's setup as automatic crossover. All other secondary insurance plans, we will attempt to collect on your behalf, but you will be responsible for any balance due if we are not successful. You are responsible for the balance whether your insurance company pays or not.
- We cannot bill your insurance unless you bring in your insurance cards.
- Your insurance policy is a contract between you and your insurance company and your cooperation is a necessary part of our collecting your benefits. Healthcare insurance is intended to cover some, but, in many cases, not all of the cost of your treatment. Any balance remaining is your responsibility.
- In the event of a returned check/NSF, a $20 fee will be assessed to your account.
- We reserve the right to charge for missed appointments not called within 24 hours. The charge is $45 billed to you, not the insurance.
- After 3 missed appointments on your account, unfortunately we will have to terminate the patient-clinician relationship.
- Any accounts that are past due after 90 days are subject to being sent to our collections agency and may include termination of patient-clinician relationship.
Insurance Plans
We are a participant in the insurance plans listed below:
| Insurance Plan | Accepting New Patients? |
| Medicare (Traditional) | Yes |
| Medicare Advantage Plans: | |
| Aetna Medicare Open Plan | Yes |
| Medicare Complete by United Healthcare | Yes |
| SecureHorizons by United Healthcare | Yes |
| Evercare by United Healthcare | Yes |
| Universal Healthcare (all plans) | NO |
| Humana Medicare | NO |
Aetna PPO and HMO | Yes |
| BCBS PPO only | Yes |
| Cigna / Cigna Behavioral Health | Yes |
| United Healthcare / United Behavioral Health | Yes |
| TRICARE | Yes |
| Value Options | Yes |
| New Directions Behavioral Health | Pending as of 9/20/11 |
| PsychCare | NO |
| Medicaid (including Medipass) | NO |
| If your insurance plan is not listed | Call the office to inquire |