Policies

Telehealth and In-Person Appointments

We provide remote services over secure, HIPAA-compliant, video technology as well as in-person appointments at our office in Beaverton, OR.  To use our telehealth option, patients must be located in Oregon (or Washington for Drs. Christensen and Worthington) and have access to a private space and high-speed internet connection. Our intake forms are available online via our patient portal; patients must be able to complete these forms prior to their first appointment.

Insurance

Please refer to our psychiatrist’s biographies regarding the insurance networks they contract with.  Please note different physicians are credentialed with different insurance companies.  To be clear if we are in network with your specific plan, it is advised to call your insurance company to ensure the physician you would like to see is in network.Please make sure to check with your specific behavioral health insurance provider to ensure that our providers are in network with your plan.  Depending on the specifics of your plan, you may be responsible for a co-pay, co-insurance, or if you have not yet met your annual deductible, the entire cost of the appointment.  

Information Regarding the No Surprises Act:

See below for our notice about the “No Surprises Act” effective 01/01/2022.  For more information on how this law applies to your care (or future care) at MHNW, please speak with your psychiatrist or email contact@mindfulhealthnw.com.

You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost.  Under the law, health care 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 at 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 health care provider gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least 1 business day before your medical service or item.  You can also ask your health care 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 or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.  For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises.

 

Appointment Lengths and Cash Pay

Please contact us for cash pay rates.  Please recognize that our rates include time spent outside of our appointment for documentation, administrative tasks (seeking authorization from and billing insurance companies), and occasional coverage between appointments (answering questions, etc.)  We will provide out-of-pocket paying patients with invoices and/or Superbills so they may submit the invoice to their insurance company for reimbursement.  Reimbursement rates vary by insurance company.

Appointment Lengths:

  • Initial Psychiatric Evaluation w/ Medication Management (60-90 minutes, might requires two appointments)
  • Medication Management Follow-up (25 minutes)
  • Combined Psychotherapy w/ Medication Management Follow-up (50 minutes)
  • Psychotherapy only (50 minutes)
  • One-time Psychiatric Consultation (60-90 minutes, might require 1-3 visits)

Payment for Services

Payment for services for patients paying out-of-pocket and co-pays for patients covered by insurance are due at time of service, via credit card processing.  We accept the following credit cards:

  • VISA
  • American Express
  • MasterCard

Showing Up Late

We take being on-time for appointments seriously.  If a patient is late to the appointment, the appointment will still end at the scheduled time.  For example, if a patient has a 25-minute medication management follow-up appointment at 9:00am and shows up at 9:10am, the appointment will still end at 9:25am.  However, if we are late to the appointment, we will provide for the full allotted time to the patient for the appointment.  For the same example above, if we show up at 9:10am we will still provide services until 9:35am.

If a patient shows up 15 minutes late to an appointment, they may be asked to reschedule and the no show policy below will apply.

No Shows and Cancellations

We understand that things come up and appointments may need to be cancelled at times.  We do not charge for cancellations made at least 24 hours in advance of the appointment time, but if a patient repeatedly cancels appointments within a week of appointment time, we reserve the right to begin charging half the out-of-pocket service rate for cancelled appointments, in order to continue providing services.  For no-shows without notification, we do not charge for the first no- show, but charge half the out-of-pocket service rate for the second no-show and the full out-of-pocket service rate for the third no-show and all no-shows thereafter.  Cancellations made within 24 hours of appointment time are subject no-show charges.  Fees for no-shows and cancellations are not reimbursed by insurance companies.

Emergencies

We are not equipped to provide around the clock coverage for emergency services.  Patients may contact us via the patient portal messaging system and we will make good faith efforts to routinely check our messages and reply, if necessary, within two business days from time of receipt.  If you believe you are experiencing a mental health or medical emergency, we recommend presenting to your local emergency department, calling 911 or calling your respective county’s mental health crisis line.

Medication Refills

Refill requests may be submitted online through our patient portal.  We will make good faith efforts to routinely check our messages for refill requests.  We process refill requests within two business days from time of receipt.  If you have no-showed your most recent medication management appointment and have not rescheduled, we may decline to refill your medication until your next completed appointment.  We do not refill medications for patients we have not seen within six months (sometimes shorter depending on the type of treatment).  If it is decided that you will no longer seek care at our clinic, we will provide a courtesy prescription (30-90 days depending on the situation) to bridge you to your next doctor.

Controlled Substances

We take a conservative approach to controlled substances (drugs that are highly regulated by the federal government due to risks of harm and abuse) and will only prescribe them when we believe the benefits are worth the risks.  We generally do not prescribe controlled substances on first visits.  If you are already on a controlled substance and would like us to continue prescribing them for you, we will consider your request, but may not continue to prescribe them for you.

There are laws (in particular the Ryan Haight Act) that specify the need for in person appointments to prescribe controlled substances. This law was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be modified and updated. We follow the most recent federal guidelines and based on these and our own policies, might require in person appointments to prescribe controlled substances at some point.

If we are prescribing controlled substances to you, we ask that you do not seek these medications from other prescribers and may request that you complete periodic urine drug screens.

Laboratory Services/Orders

We contract with Quest Diagnostics to perform laboratory services. and can also send lab requests to other local labs. We cannot guarantee that your insurance will cover these tests. To minimize duplicated procedures, we ask that you bring your most recent lab work including if possible a complete blood count, complete metabolic panel, thyroid stimulating hormone, vitamin D level, and electrocardiogram (ECG) to your first appointment with us.  Some medications require additional monitoring such as an electrocardiogram (ECG).  If this is the case we will work with you and your primary care doctor to get the testing that you need.

HIPAA/Patient Privacy

We take patient privacy seriously and are in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).  Our electronic health records are stored on an encrypted cloud-based server.  We do not store any personal patient information subject to HIPAA outside of our electronic health record.  We do provide cross-coverage for each other for emergencies and extended absences, which may require accessing each other’s patient records.

Open Notes

In accordance with federal law, all of your appointment notes will be made available for you to see in the patient portal.  We strive for concise and accurate documentation that meets all billing and medicolegal standards as well as reminds us of our treatment plan.  If you have concerns about our documentation, we can discuss this in session.

Termination/Transfer of Care

If we decide that our therapeutic relationship is no longer right, we will provide medication refills as appropriate and referrals to new providers.  We will always work with your next provider to facilitate a transfer.  If you miss an appointment and do not reschedule within 30 days, we will consider our patient-provider relationship terminated.  If you are not seen by one of our providers for 180 days, we will send you a letter terminating our patient-provider relationship.