Cancellation Policy
Appointments must be cancelled a minimum of 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment time. Failure to follow this policy, cancelling your appointment less than 24 hours prior to your appointment (the same day), will result in a late cancellation fee of $75*. This fee will be automatically deducted from the credit card on file.
*TMS appointments will be charged $25 for late cancellation.
No-Show, No-Call Policy
If you miss an appointment and fail to contact Able Psychiatry in any way prior to your missed appointment, you will be charged a no-show, no-call fee of $150*. This fee will be automatically deducted from the credit card on file.
*TMS appointments will be charged $50 for no shows.
Late or Unscheduled Arrival Policy
If you show up for an appointment at an unscheduled time, there is no guarantee of service. We reserve the right to deny an appointment if a patient arrives after their scheduled appointment time.
Reschedule Policy
If you need to reschedule your appointment, this must be done at least 24 hours prior to your originally scheduled appointment time.
If there is a pattern of constant rescheduling, typically within 0-48 hours of the start of an appointment, then we will attempt to ask if there are any barriers to treatment, e.g. work schedule, long travel distance to office, etc. If it is determined that there is a significant barrier to treatment, you/patient will be asked to find a provider that is more accessible. If the barrier is significant enough, the provider may terminate treatment with a period of 30-90 days of continued availability thereafter (based on stability/treatment type) to fill necessary prescriptions or be available for urgent questions.
Insurance Policy
At this time, we only accept/contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO. If you're using this insurance, we may need to collect and send information to your insurance to collect reimbursement. Please note, insurance benefits are not a guarantee of coverage. Some insurance policies carve out behavioral health coverage to a 3rd party insurance provider that is NOT Blue Cross Blue Shield. In these cases, services are often not covered. You are responsible for understanding your full insurance coverage. You are also responsible for the services rendered that are not covered by your insurance company.
Other than the insurance we accept, we will not directly bill any insurance on behalf of patients nor will we participate in prior authorizations for insurance coverage. Appointments must be paid out of pocket for non-covered, non-approved services. At the time of or after your appointment, you may ask for and receive a ‘superbill’ which is a receipt that describes the intervention, complexity, time, and potential diagnoses of your case. You may submit this ‘superbill’ to your out-of-network insurance to potentially receive a reimbursement or a deduction credit based on your insurance policy. It is the responsibility of the patient to notify us of any changes in insurance.
Payment Policy
All patients, whether you are new to the practice or an established patient, must pay in-full for the appointment before or at the time of the appointment. If there is a balance on your account after the appointment, another follow up appointment cannot be made.
You will need to keep a current credit card on file with us so that your balance can be paid at each time of service. Declined credit cards or checks returned for non-sufficient funds will incur a $35.00 service fee to be added to your account balance. If you should have a check returned to us for non-sufficient funds, we will require you to pay for services by cash or credit card for subsequent services.
Follow Up Policy
Adequate treatment requires timely follow up as recommended by the treatment provider. Too much time between follow up appointments causes negative consequences by letting questions and potential problems linger on for longer than they should. For this reason, if there has not been follow up within a 6-month time frame, it is assumed that there has been little attempt made on the patient or patient’s representative’s part to engage in timely follow up and thus causing inadequate treatment. At that point, it may be up to Able Psychiatry’s discretion to discontinue treatment (terminate treatment).
If a new medication or treatment is initiated, follow up as advised by Able Psychiatry is indicated to assess that treatment’s impact (side effects, response, etc.), typically within days to a few weeks of the initiation of that treatment, otherwise that treatment may be discontinued.
Grounds for Termination of Services
If on multiple occasions, you fail to give us 24 hours’ notice of cancellation or miss an appointment on two separate occasions, we reserve the right to discontinue your treatment with your treatment provider. If there are numerous and ongoing issues with making then rescheduling appointments, treatment may also be terminated. If you fail to stay current on any outstanding balances, we also reserve the right to discontinue your treatment at Able Psychiatry. If staff or provided services are abused or mistreated, we reserve the right to discontinue your treatment. We will provide you with referrals to other providers in your area if you should wish to continue services.
Phone Calls to Providers / Phone Call on Behalf of Patients
In general, our physicians are available to speak to patients outside of business hours if a patient is having a side effect of a medication and needs to talk with a physician urgently. However, there are times when a client is in distress and just wants support. We strongly suggest that if you are experiencing psychological distress that is not related to an imminent medication reaction or health risk, that you schedule an appointment with your physician or therapist to be seen as soon as possible. Your concerns can be better addressed in the context of a professional session with your behavioral health provider.
For this reason, we discourage any phone calls in excess of 5 minutes and have therefore implemented the following fee schedule for any calls that exceed 5 minutes below:
Any phone call to a provider which lasts 5 minutes or longer will be charged at the following rates: Physician (e.g., M.D., D.O.): $125 per 15 min. increment
Sometimes phone calls may be made on your behalf or on behalf of your child/dependent (e.g. to a school representative, to a health care provider, to an attorney) regarding your treatment or the treatment of your child. Treatment coordination with these collateral sources are usually not reimbursable by insurance and will be billed to the patient or patient’s guarantor at the rate indicated above.
After Hours and Emergency Access
If you have a life-threatening medical emergency, please call 911 immediately or go to the nearest emergency room.
All non-urgent issues should be addressed by calling 773-906-4546 during regular business hours or emailing medteam@ablepsychiatry.com. The expectation is that your provider will be able to respond to these non-urgent messages within 1-2 business day(s).
Prescription Refill Policy
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For non-controlled substances, please allow us 72 hours during business days (3 business days) to fill your prescription refill request, should you call to have your prescription renewed. Prescriptions will be filled Monday through Friday only.
Requests will not be filled quicker if you have run out of medication before you make the request.
Ideally, you should call when you have approximately one week left of medication. You may have your pharmacy fax us a prescription refill request at 773-304-4549 or you may call us to request a hard copy prescription.
If you require a prescription refill, it may be due to a lost prescription or too much time has lapsed between follow-up appointments. If you are prone to losing prescriptions or prescription bottles, you may have your treatment with particular medication classes terminated, especially controlled substances.
You may pick up a hard copy for a prescription, when indicated, during our business hours. Before you call, make sure you don't already have an extra refill allowed. Often, the pharmacy partially refills 90-day supplies with extra refills waiting. Call your pharmacy to confirm refills. If you do need a refill, you may be overdue for an appointment. Amounts of medication are often prescribed to cover enough days until the next suggested appointment.
We do not mail prescriptions. Please plan the timing of your prescription requests accordingly. If a refill is needed outside of appointments and this is the result of failure to follow up in the recommended time frame by the provider, you may be charged a $45 fee.
Narcotics / Controlled Substances Policy
Prescriptions for controlled substances (e.g., stimulants), if it is not possible to prescribe electronically, must be picked up in person by the patient or by the patient’s legal guardian (if the patient is a minor). You must show proof of identification to pick up a prescription for a controlled substance as well as sign a form indicating receipt of the drug. Law requires us to verify the patient’s identity before releasing a prescription for narcotics or controlled substances.
Email Policy
Email is a convenient and efficient way to communicate non-urgent questions, requests and messages that you may have for our office staff or providers. Patients need to understand that the confidentiality of any email or text message exchanges cannot be guaranteed. Please note that any messages that you send to us will not be encrypted unless you utilize your own encryption program. Our providers will make every effort to send you messages using secure, HIPAA compliant methods.
Privacy Policy
You may request a copy at our office in person.