Counseling for Meaningful Living, LLC

PRACTICE POLICIES

APPOINTMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS

At Counseling for Meaningful Living, we understand that situations may arise that require you to cancel or reschedule your appointment. To ensure that we can accommodate the needs of all clients and manage our schedule effectively, we have established the following cancellation policy:

1. Notice Requirement:
   • We request that you provide at least 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment. This allows us the opportunity to offer the appointment time to another client who may be on our waiting list.
2. Late Cancellations:
   • If you cancel your appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice, you will be charged a late cancellation fee of $75.
3. No-Show Policy:
   • If you do not attend your scheduled appointment and fail to provide notice, you will be charged a no-show fee of $75.
4. Exceptions:
   • We understand that emergencies and unforeseen circumstances may arise. If you have a valid reason for a late cancellation or no-show (e.g., sudden illness, family emergency), please contact us as soon as possible via Simple Practice secure messaging. We will consider these situations on a case-by-case basis and may waive the fees at our discretion. If you have Medicaid as your insurance provider, cancelation fees are not allowed. However, three late cancelations or no shows within a calendar year may result in closing this episode of care.
5. Rescheduling:
   • If you need to reschedule your appointment, please use Simple Practice to cancel your appointment and select a new appointment time. If you do not see any appointments available, reach out via secure messaging.
6. Contact Information:
   • To cancel or reschedule your appointment, please contact us via Simple Practice secure messaging.
7. Repeated Cancellations:
   • Repeated cancellations or no-shows may result in the need to discuss the continuation of therapy and our ability to meet your needs effectively. Three late cancelations and/or no shows per calendar year may result in closing this episode of care. More than four cancelations, even with 24 hours notice may result in closing this episode of care. Your appointment time is reserved just for you and consistency is an important part of the therapeutic process.
   • Medicaid and EAP
     • Cancelation fees are not allowed for clients using Medicaid or EAP benefits. However, repeated cancellations will result in discussion about closing this episode of care. See above policy for repeated cancellations.

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding of our cancellation policy. This policy helps us maintain a consistent schedule and provide quality care to all clients. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to discuss them with us.

Practice Policy on Non-Involvement in Legal Cases

This policy is designed to outline the approach and steps to minimize the risk of becoming involved in legal cases, including court proceedings, custody disputes, and legal testimonies, while maintaining ethical and professional standards.

• Scope of Practice: Your therapist is here to work with you on relevant mental health related symptoms and is not a forensic evaluator.
• Ethics: Social Work ethics preclude us from engaging in dual relationships and this includes serving as both your therapist and a legal evaluator.
• If you are seeking a legal-related evaluation, there are specialist who can provide this service to you.
• This psychotherapy practice does not provide legal evaluations, expert witness testimony, or any written statements intended for use in court proceedings.
• Psychotherapy records are protected under HIPAA and will not be released for legal proceedings. If a subpoena is issued this practice will retain legal counsel and all requests will be handled through the proper legal channels.
• This psychotherapy practice does not perform child custody agreements or become involved in custody disputes. Please retain a forensic expert who specializes in this area.
• This psychotherapy practice does not engage with divorce proceedings as this would compromise therapeutic neutrality.

CONFIDENTIALITY

At Counseling for Meaningful Living, all information shared during therapy sessions, including but not limited to personal details, treatment plans, and progress, is confidential. This policy applies to all staff, including therapists, administrative personnel, and interns.

• Client Rights: You have the right to confidential communication and record keeping. You have the right to access your records, unless it is determined that sharing your psychotherapy notes with you would be harmful. In that case, you and your therapist would discuss this in advance of sharing psychotherapy notes.
• Limits of Confidentiality: Confidentiality will be maintained except in the following situations- imminent harm to yourself or others (risk of suicide or homicide); suspected abuse of a child, elder, or dependent adult; court orders or subpoenas (see above policy on how legal matters are handled); or inability to care for self (psychosis).
• Data Protection and Record Keeping: All records are completed and stored in Simple Practice, which is a HIPAA compliant electronic medical record. All records are maintained in accordance with legal and professional requirements and only accessible by authorized personnel.
• Breach of Confidentiality: In the event of an accidental breach of confidentiality, Counseling for Meaningful Living, will take immediate steps to mitigate the situation, notify affected clients, and review internal procedures to prevent future breaches.
• This confidentiality policy will be reviewed annually to ensure compliance with current legal and ethical standards.

SESSION LENGTH:

• EAP sessions are 45-50 minutes in length. Due to the structure of EAP sessions, a longer session length is not available.
• Traditional therapy sessions are 38-52 minutes (billing code 90834). Longer therapy sessions are available (except when using EAP benefits) with a length of between 53 and 60 minutes (billing code 90837). Depending on your insurance coverage or for self-pay there is an additional charge for the longer session. You will be provided with the fee for each session length in your Good Faith Estimate. If the hour session length is requested the session will be no longer than 57 minutes to allow time for your therapist to transition from your session to the next client’s session
• You are responsible for communicating your preferred session length to your therapist. While your therapist will do their best to keep on eye on the time, we encourage you to also be mindful of the time and end at the time that has been agreed upon with your therapist.
• You will be billed for the session length that actually takes place.

TELEPHONE ACCESSIBILITY If you need to contact us between sessions, reach out by sending a message through your patient portal. We are often not immediately available; however, we will attempt to return your message or call within 48 hours. Please note that telehealth video sessions are highly preferable to phone sessions. However, in the event that you are out of town, sick or need additional support, phone sessions are available (if you are using insurance, this is dependent on your insurance policy. Some insurance plans do not cover phone sessions). If a true emergency situation arises, please call 911 or any local emergency room.

TELEHEALTH: You must be located in the state your therapist is licensed in at the time of the session as required by licensing regulations. It is up to you to inform your therapist when you are out of state and cancel the session in advance. You may not operate a motor vehicle during a telehealth session in accordance with traffic laws. If you are driving at the time of the session, the session will be canceled and you will be charged the late cancelation fee of $75.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION Due to the importance of your confidentiality and the importance of minimizing dual relationships, we do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). We believe that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we meet and we can talk more about it.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION We cannot ensure the confidentiality of any form of communication through electronic media, including text messages. If you prefer to communicate via email for issues regarding scheduling or cancellations, we will do so. Our email is HIPAA compliant but please remember that your email is not HIPAA compliant and so confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Secure messaging through the Simple Practice portal is preferrable. While we may try to return messages in a timely manner, we cannot guarantee immediate response and request that you do not use these methods of communication to discuss therapeutic content and/or request assistance for emergencies.

Services by electronic means, including but not limited to telephone communication, the Internet, facsimile machines, and e-mail is considered telemedicine. If you and your therapist chose to use information technology for some or all of your treatment, you need to understand that:

(1) You retain the option to withhold or withdraw consent at any time without affecting the right to future care or treatment or risking the loss or withdrawal of any program benefits to which you would otherwise be entitled.

(2) All existing confidentiality protections are equally applicable.

(3) Your access to all medical information transmitted during a telemedicine consultation is guaranteed, and copies of this information are available for a reasonable fee.

(4) Dissemination of any of your identifiable images or information from the telemedicine interaction to researchers or other entities shall not occur without your consent.

(5) There are potential risks, consequences, and benefits of telemedicine.

Potential benefits include, but are not limited to improved communication capabilities, providing convenient access to up-to-date information, consultations, support, reduced costs, improved quality, change in the conditions of practice, improved access to therapy, better continuity of care, and reduction of lost work time and travel costs. Effective therapy is often facilitated when the therapist gathers within a session or a series of sessions, a multitude of observations, information, and experiences about the client. Therapists may make clinical assessments, diagnosis, and interventions based not only on direct verbal or auditory communications, written reports, and third person consultations, but also from direct visual and olfactory observations, information, and experiences. When using information technology in therapy services, potential risks include, but are not limited to the therapist’s inability to make visual and olfactory observations of clinically or therapeutically potentially relevant issues such as: your physical condition including deformities, apparent height and weight, body type, attractiveness relative to social and cultural norms or standards, gait and motor coordination, posture, work speed, any noteworthy mannerism or gestures, physical or medical conditions including bruises or injuries, basic grooming and hygiene including appropriateness of dress, eye contact (including any changes in the previously listed issues), sex, chronological and apparent age, ethnicity, facial and body language, and congruence of language and facial or bodily expression. Potential consequences thus include the therapist not being aware of what he or she would consider important information, that you may not recognize as significant to present verbally the therapist.

MINORS If you are a minor, your parents may be legally entitled to some information about your therapy. I will discuss with you and your parents what information is appropriate for them to receive and which issues are more appropriately kept confidential.

TERMINATION Ending relationships can be difficult. Therefore, it is important to have a termination process in order to achieve some closure. The appropriate length of the termination depends on the length and intensity of the treatment. We may terminate treatment after appropriate discussion with you and a termination process if we determine that the psychotherapy is not being effectively used or if you are in default on payment. We will not terminate the therapeutic relationship without first discussing and exploring the reasons and purpose of terminating. If therapy is terminated for any reason or you request another therapist, we will provide you with a list of qualified psychotherapists to treat you. You may also choose someone on your own or from another referral source.

Should you fail to schedule an appointment for three consecutive weeks, unless other arrangements have been made in advance, for legal and ethical reasons, we must consider the professional relationship discontinued. If you do not arrive to two consecutive, scheduled sessions and we do not receive communication from you, treatment will be closed. If we decide to end an episode of care, we can open a new episode of care if needed in the future.

LEGAL DISPUTES

If a legal issue arises and we are not able to reach a mutually acceptable agreement, we will enter into arbitration. Reasonable attorney fees and costs will be awarded to the prevailing party should the parties litigate or arbitrate any disputes arising from your services.

COST OF SERVICES

If you are using health insurance to cover psychotherapy sessions, your health insurance company sets the payment rate per session. Sessions are billed under three CPT codes.

·         90837- individual psychotherapy session between 53-60 minutes

·         90834- individual psychotherapy session between 38-52 minutes

·         90832- individual psychotherapy session between 16-37 minutes

You will be notified in advance of your healthcare coverage and any portion that is your responsibility. For example, some insurance policies require that you pay a flat co-pay for each session. Other insurance policies require that you pay the full session cost until your deductible is met. You will receive a good faith estimate of financial responsibility prior to the first session.

If you are paying for sessions out of pocket (no insurance coverage), the fees are as follows:

·         90837 (53-57 minute session)- $150

·         90834 (38-52 minute session)- $130

·         90832 (16-37 minute session)- $75

Payments can be made through the Simple Practice portal and all major credit cards and HSA cards are accepted.

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