Counseling Can  Help

Are you ready to take the first step to connecting and starting counseling at Angelus Therapeutic Services?

We know that reaching out is a big deal, and not always the easiest thing to do, but we are here to support you every step of the way.

Angelus is a private counseling group with offices in Lawrence & Mercer Counties, that aims to provide high quality and personalized care. Our goal is to help you feel heard, find hope, and start the healing process, as you work through difficult periods in your life. Whether that is with us, or by helping you to connect with another service or level of care. What is important is finding the best fit for you.

Our Intake Coordinator, Melisa, is in the office Monday-Friday from 10 AM – 2:30PM. Her mission to help you through the anxiety of starting therapy by making scheduling your first appointment a streamlined and low-stress process.

If you are a new or returning client looking to schedule a counseling appointment with one of our therapists, you can either call us at 724-654-9555 or complete the following New Client Intake Request Form and we will call you!

psst…. Completing the form online will speed up the process and drastically cut down the number of questions we ask you over the phone.  –

Please note: We have found a time or two the convenience of technology has failed us, and we have not received the forms people submitted. If we haven’t called you within 48 hrs of submitting a form PLEASE call us, it may not have submitted correctly.

• When calling in please have your health insurance information and preferred email address available, we will need both to get you set up in our system. You can check out our insurance network chart at the bottom of this page to see if we are in or out-of-network with your insurance. You can also look at the pages for the New Castle and Hermitage offices to see which therapists practice where, what their specialties are, and which insurances they can accept.
• Following that first call/contact we will set you up with your own Angelus patient portal & you will be asked to complete your opening paperwork PRIOR to scheduling your intake appointment.
  • • • The intake paperwork process should take you 20-30 min and can be done online at your convenience, but the sooner you are able to complete it the faster we are able to get you in for an appointment.
      • This will allow you to complete over 95% of your paperwork before your appointment and free up that intake time to fully focus on you and your needs and journey.
      • After we receive your submitted paperwork we will help you check your insurance benefits and  will send you a summary of benefits within your portal. You will need to sign this as well to verify we have communicated any related expenses to the best of our ability.

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. Payment for therapy services is due before or at the time of your session. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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. 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.
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.
7. If your default card declines any secondary card will then be processed automatically, you will not be notified first. This includes when an HSA card has been exhausted.
8. If all cards on file are declined for a copay/ coinsurance or deductible payment, you will be responsible for paying this 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. If this is for an amount over $50 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. In the event that your credit card has expired 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.
12. 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
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 had been already scheduled for a follow up appointment (s) at the time of a No Show that future appointment will be cancelled, and you will need to contact our office to be rescheduled.  
• Your fail/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 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 and the card on file will be automatically charged the $75 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 this event of a late cancel intake, you will need to pay the associated $25/$40 cancel fee over the phone prior to rescheduling. 
• 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 $40 fee.  

WEATHER RELATED CANCELLATION POLICY 

• In the event of inclement weather, you will be given the option to switch from an in-office to a virtual session rather than cancel your appointment. 
• In severe and inclement winter weather situations Angelus may request you to transfer your sessions to telehealth/virtual 
• If there is a government issued severe weather advisory in effect that precludes your ability to attend an in-person session AND you do not have virtual benefits that allow you to transition this to a virtual session you will not be charged a cancellation fee. 

In person/ Telehealth Flexibility Policy 

We understand that there are many things 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 any in person appointment to a virtual/ telehealth session under the following circumstances or steps: 

• You have 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.  
• You may also call our office between 10:00 am – 2:00 pm to request this of our admin staff but 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 have 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. 

USING INSURANCE COVERAGE 

Angelus Therapeutic Services will attempt to verify mental health insurance coverage for all clients before 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 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: It is possible that there may be a difference in the co-pay or coverage due once the claim is processed; you are responsible for any difference in this amount. 
• Please note: you are responsible for the cost of your therapy services at the billable rate listed below under “Self-Pay Fee Schedule” if 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 or due to a lack of authorization for services, 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.   
• 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.  
• We may be able to submit your claims to your out of network insurance plan as a curtesy to you and designate the insurance company to reimburse you directly. If the insurance company makes the payment directly to Angelus, we will refund you for any amount that they paid that you may have previously made a payment on.  
• 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.  
• Insurance companies do NOT cover No Show or Late Cancellations, so it is your responsibility to pay these fees directly. Our system 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. We will NOT notify you first of this payment processing but will send you a receipt within your patient portal of the paid invoice at that time. If your card is declined the system will make follow up attempts to process this payment and you will not be able to reschedule until that payment is successfully made.  

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.