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Late Cancellation & Missed Appointment Policy

The full fee will be charged for any session missed or canceled without 24 hour notice.

Clinician sees a fixed number of clients each week. Once you schedule an appointment with a Harborside therapist, that time is reserved exclusively for you. Clinicians need to be able to rely on these therapy appointments. Therefore, many clinicians handle missed and canceled appointments as follows:

For any appointment that is missed or canceled with less than the required 24 hour notice, no matter what the reason, clients will be charged a fee for that session, as shown below. Also, keep in mind that missed or late canceled appointments are not covered by your health plan and cannot be billed to your insurance company.

Initial Evaluation $200
Individual Therapy $130
Couple or Family Therapy $175
Psychopharmacology $85
Psychopharmacology and 1/2 hour therapy $110
Psychopharmacology and 1 hour therapy $150
Phone calls 10 minutes more $130/hour prorated
Legal reports $200/hour
Court appearances $250/ hour plus expenses, 4 hour minimum paid in advance
Group Therapy $50

Most clinicians realize that on infrequent or rare occasions an event may occur in your life that requires the canceling of your scheduled appointment with less than the required 24 hours. Such cancellations may be the result of a sudden illness in yourself or family member, the untimely breakdown of your automobile or an employer requiring you to stay late at the office. Most clinicians will do their best to offer you a timely rescheduling of your appointment. Nevertheless, most clinicians will still charge you for the time they have reserved for you.

Most clinicians acknowldege an exception to this policy for cancellation in severe weather.

Should you have any additional questions, please discuss them with your individual therapist.

Harborside Counseling Services

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

In psychiatric emergencies, please attempt to contact me directly at my office. I check for messages frequently. You can also call (978) 977-2511 and indicate to the answering service that it is urgent and ask to have the therapist on call paged. In extreme emergencies, go directly to your local hospital’s emergency room. When I am on vacation, I will give you the name of a colleague covering my practice.

BILLING AND PAYMENT OF FEES

Payment is expected at the time of your appointment unless other arrangements have been discussed and agreed upon in advance. Your health insurance company may reimburse me for your psychotherapy. However, you are responsible for any deductible, co-payment or balance applicable to your individual policy. Harborside Counseling Services requires all clients to submit a credit card authorization. In the unlikely event that you have a balanced owed for more than 90 days, Harborside will charge the overdue amount to your credit card and will notify you of this charge by mail.

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

I am a psychotherapist in independent practice. I am the sole professional responsible for my treatment with you. No person or organization associated with Harborside Counseling Services has clinical responsibility for my work with you. Likewise, I have no clinical responsibility for the activities of any other person or organization associated with Harborside Counseling Services.

CLIENT RECORDS AND CONFIDENTIALITY

Clients are assured of confidentiality, which is protected by ethical practice and law. In general, the law states that all communication between a licensed practitioner and his/her client are confidential. Any information shared will require your signed consent except where disclosure is required by law. Some legal exceptions to maintaining confidentiality are:

If your account is overdue and arrangements for payment have not been negotiated, a collection agency will be provided with dates of service, type of service provided and a total amount due.
My HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices explains in detail how medical information about you may be used and disclosed.

YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS

This section describes your PHI rights and summarizes how you may exercise these rights.

1. The Right to See and Get Copies of Your PHI. In most cases, you have the right to request access to your PHI that is in my possession, or to get copies of it. Any such request must be made in writing to me at my office address. If I approve your request, I will charge a reasonable fee for the cost of copying and mailing. Under certain circumstances, I may deny your request, but if I do, I will give you, in writing, the reasons for the denial and explain your right to have my denial reviewed. I may see fit to provide you with a summary or explanation of the PHI, but only if you agree to it, as well as to the cost, in advance.

2. The Right to Request Limits on Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI. You have the right to submit a written request that I limit certain information and to whom the restriction applies. While I will consider all requests for restrictions, I am not legally bound to agree. If I do agree to your request, I will put those limits in writing and abide by them except in emergency situations or as required by law.

3. The Right to Choose How I Send Your PHI to You. It is your right to ask that your PHI be sent to you in a particular manner (for example, via email instead of by regular mail) or at a certain location (for example, sending information to your work address rather than your home address). I am obliged to agree to your request providing that I can give you the PHI, in the format you requested, without undue inconvenience. Any such request must be made in writing to me at my office address and must include a reason in support of your request. I am required to accommodate your request if it clearly protects your confidential communication.

4. The Right to Get a List of the Disclosures I Have Made. You are entitled to a list of disclosures of your PHI that I have made during the six years (or shorter period of time designated by you) prior to the date of your request. The list will not include uses or disclosures to which you have already consented, i.e., those for treatment, payment, or health care operations, sent directly to you or to your family; neither will the list include disclosures made for national security purposes, to corrections or law enforcement personnel, or disclosures made before October 15, 2003. The list will include the date of the disclosure, to whom PHI was disclosed (including their address, if known), a description of the information disclosed, and the reason for the disclosure. I will provide the list to you at no cost, unless you make more than one request in the same year, in which case I will charge you a reasonable sum based on a set fee for each additional request.

5. The Right to Amend Your PHI. If you believe that there is some information in your PHI that is incorrect or omitted, it is your right to request that I amend the existing information. Your request and the reason for the request must be made in writing. You will receive a response within 60 days of my receipt of your request. I may deny your request, in writing, if I find that: the PHI is (a) correct and complete, (b) forbidden to be disclosed, or (c) not part of my records. My denial must be in writing and must state the reasons for the denial. It must also explain your right to file a written statement objecting to the denial. If you do not file a written objection, you still have the right to ask that your request and my denial be attached to any future disclosures of your PHI. If I approve your request, I will make the change(s) to your PHI. Additionally, I will tell you that the changes have been made, and I will advise all others who need to know about the change(s) to your PHI.

6. The Right to A Paper Copy of the Notice. You have the right to obtain a paper copy of my most current Notice of Privacy Practices at any time.

HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT MY PRIVACY PRACTICES

If, in your opinion, I may have violated your privacy rights, or if you disagree with a decision I made about access to your PHI, you are entitled to file a written complaint with me at my office address. You may also send a written complaint to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services within 180 days of a violation of your rights. I will not take retaliatory action against you for filing a complaint.

Additional Information: If you have any questions or need further assistance regarding this notice or to request assistance with any of the items listed above, please call me.

Harborside Counseling Services

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

I am committed to protecting your Private Health Information (PHI). A federal law (HIPAA), requires me to take reasonable steps to insure your PHI, provide this notice about my information practices, follow the practices described in this notice, and seek your acknowledgment of receipt of this notice. This Notice must explain when, why, and how I would use and/or disclose your PHI. Before making any important changes in policy permitted by law, I will change this notice and post the new notice in my waiting area. You can also request a copy of this notice from me at any time.

HOW I WILL USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PHI
Below you will find different categories of uses and disclosures, some of which may be made with your consent and others that do not require your consent or authorization.

1. Uses and Disclosures That May be Made With Your Written Consent
In general, I must obtain your written authorization before sharing your PHI. You may also request some portions of your PHI be sent to another person or organization by completing a written authorization form. For example, you may want to support continuity of your care by authorizing the sharing of information with your other providers such as a primary care physician, psychiatrist, clinical nurse specialist or other healthcare providers. You may withdraw such an authorization at any time, in writing, unless I have already acted on it. Information may be shared verbally, by paper mail, electronic mail, fax or other methods.

2. Uses and Disclosures That May be Made Without Your Written Consent
While your written authorization is generally required, I do not need your written consent for the purpose of providing your mental health treatment, collecting payment for my services or facilitating the efficient and correct operation of the business activities of my practice.
Examples of activities related to payment include claims provided for insurance reimbursement and reviews required by insurance companies.
Examples of activities related to business practices include contact to remind you of your appointment.

3. Other Uses and Disclosures That May Be Made Without Your Consent
I may use or disclose PHI for the following purposes: for public health activities (for example, to alert public health authorities of public health risks such as disease); for health oversight activities (for example, to assist in investigations); to protect against serious harm (for example, to report reasonable suspicion of child or elder abuse or neglect); for judicial and administrative proceedings (for example, in response to a subpoena or discovery request); for certain law enforcement purposes (for example, when a law requires me to report information to government agencies); for specialized government functions (for example, to assist in national security and intelligence activities); for certain government approved research purposes, if certain conditions for privacy are met); for worker’s compensation purposes (for example, when required by worker’s compensation laws); to a coroner, medical examiner or funeral director (to permit them to carry out their legal duties); when necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety of a person or the public; or when required to do so by federal, state or local law.

4. Other Uses and Disclosures That May Be Made Without Your Consent But Require You to Have the Opportunity to Object
I may provide your PHI to a family member, friend, or other individual identified by you as involved in your care or responsible for the payment for your health care. If you are physically present and capable of making health care decisions, your PHI may be disclosed only with your consent and only to a person you designate. In an emergency, I may disclose PHI relevant to your immediate needs to a family member or close friend to assist in your care. In such a case I will take appropriate steps to verify the identity of such a person and I will use professional judgment as to whether a disclosure is in your best interest.

Billing and Payment Fees

Payment is expected at the time of your appointment unless other arrangements have been discussed and agreed upon in advance. Your health insurance company may reimburse me for your psychotherapy. However, you are responsible for any deductible, co-payment or balance applicable to your individual policy. Harborside Counseling Services ask all clients to submit a credit card authorization sheet. In the unlikely event that you have a balance owed for more than 60 days, Harborside will charge the overdue amount to your account and notify you of this charge by mail.