Question 1

Who is a good candidate for your telepsychiatry practice?

Accepted Answer

The type of therapy I do is best for people who have managed to be in long-term relationships, held stable jobs, and find themselves struggling with internal pain nonetheless.  People who are curious about themselves, their behavior, and value insight tend to fair better with my style of treatment.

If you have a severe chronic mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, or substance use disorders you would likely do best to see a psychiatrist in-person.  Similarly, if you take medications in the stimulant class (Adderall, Ritalin, etc.) or the benzodiazepine class (Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, Valium), you should consider an in-person psychiatrist.  Lastly, if you have needed or continue to need psychiatric hospitalization you might consider finding a psychiatrist with whom you can meet in their office.

Question 2

Are you accepting new patients?

Accepted Answer

My psychotherapy/psychoanalytic practice is mostly full.  I often have some limited last minute availability - usually 1-2 hours each week as someone cancels or goes on vacation.  If you have a flexible schedule and would like to be placed on a backup list for last minute openings, contact my office.

Question 3

Do you treat children and adolescents?

Accepted Answer

I do not treat children or adolescents.  I feel I do my best work with adult or geriatric populations.

Question 4

Do you take insurance?

Accepted Answer

While I am not an in-network provider for any insurance company, I can offer you a "superbill" which you are free to submit to your insurance provider.  You may or may not be reimbursed to some extent for my services.  Regardless of whether or not you are reimbursed you would be responsible for paying your invoice prior to your appointment.  You can pay with your FSA or HSA if you have one available.  Please note that most, but not all, insurance companies allow for telehealth services.  Check with your insurance company first if you plan to try getting reimbursed.

Question 5

Why don't you take insurance?

Accepted Answer

Insurance companies tend to be particularly punitive toward psychiatrists by offering lower reimbursement rates than they do for other medical services.  In addition, they often to try to limit the amount of time that a psychiatrist can spend with their patients and/or limit the length of treatment.  They will sometimes try to dictate the type of treatment available to patients.  One way they do this is by making billing procedures and documentation especially time consuming and onerous.  By not participating with any insurance company I am afforded greater control over my practice and can do things I feel are in the patients' best interest rather than the insurance companies'.

Question 6

How does billing work?

Accepted Answer

After you book your first appointment you will be sent an invoice for an initial psychiatric intake visit.  The invoice will be sent via Square directly to your email.  You will need to pay that invoice no later than 48 hours PRIOR to your appointment in order to keep your allotted time.  If you are planning to try for insurance reimbursement let my office know and a superbill can be provided to you.

Question 7

What is your cancellation and late policy?

Accepted Answer

If you cancel your appointment with at least 48 hours notice you will not be charged.  If you cancel with less than 48 hours notice you will be responsible for your full appointment fee.   
If you show up late for your appointment, you will be seen for as much time as you have remaining during your appointment slot.

Question 8

What are your fees?

Accepted Answer

The psychiatric intake is often 60-75 minutes in duration and I charge $350.  Most follow-up appointments are 45 minutes in duration and I charge $250.  
Occasionally, I will see patients for more or less time and my fees are prorated accordingly.

Ketamine sessions are billed at $300 per session.   See the FAQ on Ketamine for specifics about that protocol and associated expenses.

Question 9

Do you offer a sliding scale?

Accepted Answer

I do not offer a sliding scale but I do reduce my fee slightly for patients seen 2 or more times per week.

Question 10

What is psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy?

Accepted Answer

Psychoanalysis is a treatment based on the idea that people are frequently motivated by unrecognized wishes and desires that originate in one’s unconscious.
These can be identified through the relationship between patient and analyst. By listening to patients’ stories, fantasies, and dreams, as well as discerning how patients interact with others, psychoanalysts offer a unique perspective that friends and relatives might be unable to see. The analyst also listens for the ways in which these patterns occur between patient and analyst. What is out of the patient’s awareness is called “transference” and what is out of the analyst’s awareness is called “countertransference.”
Talking with a trained psychoanalyst helps identify underlying patterns and behaviors. By analyzing the transference and countertransference, analyst and patient can discover paths toward the emotional freedom necessary to make substantive, lasting changes, and heal from past traumas.
Typically, psychoanalysis involves the patient coming several times a week and communicating as openly and freely as possible. While more frequent sessions deepen and intensify the treatment, frequency of sessions is worked out between the patient and analyst.

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy, sometimes also called psychodynamic psychotherapy, is a treatment method based on the theory and technique of psychoanalysis. The primary difference is that the patient and analyst meet less frequently, sometimes only once a week. As with psychoanalysis, the frequency of sessions can be customized to the needs of the patient. Another difference is that the patient usually sits upright and opposite the therapist, rather than reclining on a couch with the therapist out of view.
Other than these differences, psychoanalytic psychotherapy is very much like analysis in its use of free association, the importance placed on the unconscious, and the centrality of the patient-therapist relationship.

https://apsa.org/about-psychoanalysis/ (https://apsa.org/about-psychoanalysis/)

Question 11

What is a D.O.?

Accepted Answer

Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine use a unique whole-person approach to help prevent illness and injury.
Accounting for approximately 11% of all physicians in the United States, Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, or DOs, bring a unique, patient-centered approach to every specialty across the full spectrum of medicine. They are trained to listen and partner with their patients to help them get healthy and stay well.
DOs practice in all medical specialties, including primary care, pediatrics, OBGYN, emergency medicine, psychiatry and surgery. Moreover, DOs hold some of the most prominent positions in medicine today, including overseeing care for the President of the United States, the NASA medical team, Olympic athletes and many who serve in the uniformed services.
From their first days of medical school, DOs are trained to look beyond your symptoms to understand how lifestyle and environmental factors impact your well-being. They practice medicine according to the latest science and technology, but also consider options to complement pharmaceuticals and surgery.
As part of their education, DOs receive special training in the musculoskeletal system, your body’s interconnected system of nerves, muscles and bones. By combining this knowledge with the latest advances in medical technology, they offer patients the most comprehensive care available today.

https://osteopathic.org/what-is-osteopathic-medicine/what-is-a-do/ (https://osteopathic.org/what-is-osteopathic-medicine/what-is-a-do/)