Counseling Can  Help

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• • • Your health insurance information
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Rates, Policies, & Procedures:

We are in the process of updating this page so please feel free to reach out if you are unable to find the info you are looking for. 

PRACTICE POLICIES: APPOINTMENTS, INSURANCES, PAYMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS:

We prioritize our clients by holding space for each person we see. When clients cancel an appointment, our clinicians offer that space to other clients who are in need of an appointment that week. When clients cancel close to the time of their scheduled appointment or ‘no show’ (fail to attend or cancel) their appointment, other clients miss out on the opportunity to be seen and the clinician’s time goes unused. As such we have developed a comprehensive attendance policy and ask you to thoroughly read and electronically sign each section to ensure your full understanding and consent

FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS & HOW PAYMENTS ARE MADE

Angelus Therapeutic Services accepts the following forms of payment: 

• Credit/Debit card on file in your patient portal 
• HSA/FSA card on file in your patient portal 
• Cash paid prior to or at the time of your appointment 
• Check paid prior to or at the time of your appointment 

1. We require all clients to have a valid credit/debit card on file in your patient portal in order to schedule appointments. If you place a HSA/FSA card on file for your copay or cost sharing fees you MUST ALSO have a secondary debit/credit card on file for any potential fees related to our attendance policy as HSA cards cannot be used for those fees. Please mark the HSA card as your ‘default’ payment method to ensure this is always used first. 
2. Payment for therapy services is due before or at the time of your session; this includes all fees, copays, coinsurance and/or deductible amounts. The primary credit card on file will be processed automatically at the end of each held session or typically within 24 hours. At times this charge may not go through for several days to a week. If you do not wish to pay with your credit card on file you must present a different payment method (cash, check, alternative card) at the beginning of your session. 
3. Angelus Therapeutic Services reserves the right to cancel your appointment or suspend the provision of therapy services due to an outstanding balance until the balance is paid. 
4. If the card was NOT charged for a deductible at the time of service, but the deductible was noted on the Good Faith Estimate that charge will be processed when it registers in Angelus’ system as accumulated. This is done automatically; at times this is when the information comes back from the insurance company that it did in fact go towards the deductible as anticipated. 
5. If Angelus charges a deductible or copay amount, and it then comes back paid by the insurance Angelus will refund any overpayment to the card on file from which the payment was made. This can happen when a deductible was remaining at the time of checking benefits but was fulfilled between then and when the claim was processed by the insurance company.
6. If you remove a card from your patient portal, we will not be able to refund payments to it. We will also not be able to schedule any further appointments until a new and working card is placed on file.  
7. If your default card declines any secondary or additional cards on file will then be processed automatically, you will not be notified first. This includes when an HSA card has been exhausted. 
8. If your credit card has expired, has insufficient funds, or been denied you will be sent an email to the primary address on file to alert you of this and you will be able to update it within your patient portal OR by calling our office and updating this over the phone.   
   1. You will be responsible for updating this information and paying any due balance in cash or by alternative card prior to your next scheduled appt or prior to scheduling another appointment if one is not already scheduled when this occurs.  
   2. Your next session may be cancelled until you contact us, or this payment is made. 
9. Checks are not able to be accepted after a credit card has been declined. 
10. A $30.00 service charge will be charged for any checks returned for any reason for special handling 
11. There is a $10 service fee added when all cards on file are declined and you have not responded regarding updating this within 5 business days and this necessitates additional follow up by Angelus to acquire an alternative payment method 
12. Any balances on your account will continue to attempt to process to your card on file until either this payment has gone through OR you have updated your information. OR special payment arrangements have been made with Angelus regarding this.  
13. If a balance is left unpaid in your account for a period of two months or greater, Angelus may send your balance to a collection agency. You are responsible for contacting Angelus to make payment arrangements prior to that time to prevent collections proceedings. You will not be able to schedule or reenter counseling while in collections.

ADDITIONAL CANCEL/ FAIL POLICIES: 

• If you have been already scheduled for a follow up appointment (s) at the time of a No Show those future appointments may be cancelled, and you will need to contact our office to be rescheduled. 
• Your No Show/Cancel fee MUST be paid prior to being able to reschedule. 
• Repeated No Shows and cancelled sessions indicate that you are not fully committed to treatment at this time. 

• • Two less-than-24-hour cancels will be considered one failed session. 
  • Two No Show/Failed sessions in a six-month period will preclude your ability to reschedule with your therapist and your case will be closed at Angelus. This is necessary because a time commitment is made to you and is held exclusively for you. When you schedule and do not attend your appointments this prevents other clients in need from being able to be seen during that time frame. 

• If closed due to attendance policy violations, you must wait a minimum of six months before being able to reopen with any counselor at Angelus. 

Intake Appointments: 

• As intake appointments are indicators of your readiness for treatment; a ‘No Showed’ Intake can NOT be rescheduled for at least 6 months, and the card on file will be automatically charged the $85 No Show fee. 
• If you are unable to make your scheduled intake appointment, you MUST call at least 2 hours in advance.  
• An intake will only be able to be cancelled and rescheduled with less than 24 hours’ notice on one occasion. In the event of a late cancel intake, you will need to pay the associated $35/$50 cancel fee prior to rescheduling. 

Locations: 

• Angelus schedules and sees clients at multiple locations. Please verify which location you will be seen at prior to your scheduled appointment. You can find this in your patient portal. 

• Arriving at the wrong office will not allow you enough time to get to the correct location. In this case you will be given the option to transfer the session to a virtual appointment (if appropriate and covered by your plan) or this will be considered a Level 2 cancellation and result in a $50 fee.  
• If your confirmation message contained the wrong location and you are able to show this to us any fee will be waived.  

In person/ Telehealth Flexibility Policy: We understand that there are many factors in life that can be out of your control that can have a dramatic impact on your ability to attend scheduled appointments. As such we have adopted a more fluid scheduling policy that allow you to change in person appointment to a virtual/ telehealth session under the following circumstances or steps: 

• You signed the Telehealth Consent Policy prior to this appointment. 
• You are physically in the state of PA at the time of your appointment 
• You reach out to your therapist at least 10 min prior to your appointment time through the patient portal and request a virtual session link to be sent. 
• Or you call our office between 10:00 am – 2:00 pm to request this of our admin staff. Remember -therapists are not able to retrieve voicemail outside of these hours, so the patient portal is your best resource for this switch. 
• You have a stable, reliable, and private internet connection and a private space in which to hold your appointment. 
• Your therapist finds virtual sessions clinically appropriate for your circumstances, your therapist may deny this switch if virtual counseling is not deemed appropriate for you at that time. 

• Please note that Couple’s Counseling, Groups and Family Therapy sessions typically need to occur in person due to their multi-faceted nature.  

USING INSURANCE COVERAGE 

Angelus Therapeutic Services will attempt to verify mental health insurance coverage for all clients before scheduling their initial visit or when we are notified of a change of insurance.  This is to determine the conditions of coverage and any copay/deductible for which the client may be responsible. We ask that you please review and sign the benefit form prior to your appointment and understand the following: 

• Any explanation of benefits that Angelus Therapeutic Services receives is only a quote of benefits, and actual coverage is determined when the insurance plan receives a claim for processing after your appointment. 
• Please note: Checking benefits before your appointment is done as a courtesy and does not represent a contracted amount. At times when Angelus checks benefits, we are not given accurate information by your insurance carrier. It is possible that there may be a difference in the co-pay, cost share, or coverage amount due once the claim is processed; you are responsible for any difference in this amount. 
• Please note: you will be responsible for the full cost of your services at Angelus at the billable rate listed below under “Self-Pay Fee Schedule” you do not have in-network insurance coverage at the time of your appointment, or your coverage is denied. 
• It is your responsibility to notify our office immediately when there is a change in your insurance.  Failure to notify the office of a change in insurance, or if your insurance is denied due to policy termination, will result in you being responsible for any unpaid sessions at the full out of pocket rate. Not all insurances will backdate billing and notifying us out of timeline of an insurance coverage will result in your being fully responsible for the cost of sessions. 
• In-network (IN) insurance plans will be honored at an agreed-upon contracted rate set by the health insurance company. We have no control over these rates as they are set by the insurance plan themselves and are obligated to charge you any portion, they deem your responsibility. At times this insurance company will raise its contracted rate with Angelus after you have started services and this can alter your expected co-insurance or deductible amounts. We will do our best to update you when this occurs but we encourage you to be mindful of your patient portal for updated billing documents.  

Out-of-network (OON)insurance plans: you are responsible for the full cost of services if your therapist is out of network with your insurance plan. You will receive an out of network authorization form that will explain all costs prior to scheduling your intake. You must sign this form prior to scheduling.  

• We may be able to submit your claims to your out of network insurance plan for you as a courtesy to you and designate the insurance company to reimburse you directly. If the insurance company makes the payment directly to Angelus, we will refund or credit you for any amount that they pay at that time. 
• Certain out of network insurances are treated as in network in that they have set copay amount that are known to Angelus and have verified that they will make payments to Angelus regardless of out of network status. In those circumstances you will not have to pay the full cost of sessions at the time of your appointment and only be responsible for the known out of pocket cost 

• Insurance companies DO NOT cover No-Show or Late Cancellations, it is your responsibility to pay these fees directly. We will automatically charge the credit card on file for ‘No Shows’ and late cancellations per our attendance policy as soon as 15 minutes after the failed session time. Typically, these payments are processed at the time of the cancel or No Show but at times may process later and follow the previously stated rules for payments.  
• We will NOT notify you first of this payment processing, but you will receive a receipt within your patient portal of the paid invoice at that time. 

TERMINATION IN TREATMENT:

Ending the therapeutic relationships can be difficult, but it is important to know the situations or scenarios in which your treatment at Angelus may end. 

• The goal of counseling is the successful ending of your treatment with goals met. The appropriate length and intensity of treatment varies for each person and is based on your identified treatment goals, supports, and progress towards those goals. You should generally plan on a minimum of six or more sessions with a commitment of at least two months to the treatment process.  
• Angelus may terminate your treatment after appropriate discussion with you if your clinician determines that the psychotherapy is not being effectively used or there is a lack of commitment or progress made within this treatment relationship.  
• Termination may occur if you are referred to a higher level of care that better meets your treatment needs. This would not preclude you from returning to Angelus upon completion of that treatment. 

• You may terminate treatment if you do not feel that your therapist is the right fit for your needs at this time. In this case you may request a different therapist at Angelus, or your clinician can provide you with a list of qualified clinicians who may be a better fit for your needs.  
• You may be closed immediately at Angelus if there are any concerns about the safety and security of our staff and/or other patients. Aggressive, abusive, sexually inappropriate, assaultive or harassing behaviors will not be tolerated and may also result in legal actions.   
• You may be denied sessions if you are in default on your copay or deductible payments, or if you have had had multiple failed or late cancelled appointments as per our attendance and payment policy. 
• You may also be closed at Angelus if you fail to schedule an appointment for three consecutive weeks, unless other arrangements have been made in advance, for legal and ethical reasons, Angelus must consider the professional relationship discontinued and your case will be closed. You will be welcome to call back and reopen services if the need arises at a later time. 

Angelus will not terminate the therapeutic relationship without first discussing and exploring the reasons and purpose of terminating with you. If therapy is terminated for any reason or you request another therapist, our office (or your insurance company) can provide you with a list of qualified psychotherapists to treat you. You may also choose someone on your own or from another referral source. With an appropriately completed release of information form we will be happy to forward your medical records to another provider of your choice to ensure continuity of care.

TELEPHONE BASED TELEHEALTH CONTACTS AND/OR SESSIONS:

Your therapist’s time can be very limited and as such we try to contain most communication to during scheduled therapy sessions and minimize phone calls outside of these times. When additional time is needed, we may be able to schedule an additional virtual or phone-based session. It is noted that scheduled in–person or telehealth video sessions are highly preferable to phone contacts. However, in select circumstances, phone sessions may be available. Due to licensing regulations, you must physically be within the state of PA in order to have a telehealth session with your therapist. Please keep in mind that your insurance will not cover the cost of a phone-based session; therefore, you will be responsible for a fee of $25/per every 10 min and this will be billed to your credit card on file.