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Compass Psychiatry LLC Practice Policies

Compass Psychiatry, LLC Practice Policy
At Compass Psychiatry we are committed to providing exceptional mental health services.  The following information is provided to acquaint you with our policies and procedures.  Please read through to the end carefully, print all pages if at all possible and sign at the bottom.  Bring the signed forms to your initial appointment.  This will aid us in saving time and best serving your needs.

Confidentiality
Your records are referred to as Private Health Information (PHI).  PHI is confidential and protected by state and federal laws.  We will not release your information to anyone without prior written consent from you or your legal guardian.  You must sign a release of information for your insurance company if you are using medical insurance for services.  Usually, the information we release to insurance companies includes dates of service, diagnosis, charges, major symptomology and our treatment recommendations.  Records are not released directly to patients (Georgia Code 31-33-2).  We do provide medical records to other physicians or attorneys with a signed release of information from you or your legal guardian.  However, we are required by federal HIPAA rules to waive a patient’s confidentiality in the event of:
The patient’s safety is potentially at risk or the safety of another individual is in jeopardy.
Suspected abuse of a minor, elderly person or disabled person.

In these situations, we are legally bound to report the suspected abuse or safety issue to the appropriate agency.

Appointments
Please call our office in Marietta at (770) 426-9929 or in Ellijay at (706) 635-4703 to schedule an appointment.  Our capable staff will be happy to answer any questions about scheduling, insurance issues/coverage, fees or any other concern you may have.  Please arrive at least 15 minutes early for your initial appointment.

Cancellation
WE REQUIRE 24 HOURS CANCELLATION NOTICE for all appointments missed for any reason.  Without 24 hours cancellation, you will be charged $125 for an initial appointment and $50 for a missed follow up appointment with the psychiatrist.  For missed therapy appointments with any clinician, you will be charged $120 for all missed appointments.  As the appointment time has been scheduled for you and as we are disallowed by law to bill the insurance company for missed appointments, you are responsible in full for this payment.  As a courtesy, we make every effort to provide reminder calls for appointments but regardless of whether you have received a reminder call, you are responsible for your appointment.  We understand that many circumstances make rescheduling of appointments necessary and our staff is happy to help reschedule your appointment with a minimum of 24 hours notice without any charge being applied.  This time allows another patient the chance to utilize the appointment time.

Fees
For your convenience, we accept most major insurance or self-pay for our services.  You may enquire by calling our office whether your insurance is accepted and which providers are in network for your particular insurance plan.

Payment will be collected at the time of service.  For your convenience we accept cash, personal check as well as Visa and Master Card credit and debit cards.

Unpaid balances will accrue a 3% interest charge after 60 days of nonpayment.  After 90 days of nonpayment, we will be forced to refer these bills to a private collection service.  To avoid this situation, we encourage you to pay your balance at the time of service or to speak with our office manager, Marisa Botero, to arrange a suitable payment plan.

We do not file claims for insurance companies we are not providers for.  However, we are happy to provide a super bill for you to submit directly to your insurance company to receive out of network reimbursement for our services.

If you are using insurance to cover your services, we are pleased to bill the insurance carrier if we have a current, valid insurance card on file and if we accept assignment from the insurance company.  It is the patient’s responsibility to ensure the clinician you are seeing is in network for your insurance and whether you have mental health coverage that will cover our services.  Our office manager may also be able to assist you with this but it is ultimately the patient’s responsibility.

Insurances Accepted
(Check with office staff on which clinicians accept your particular insurance)
Medicare, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare, Cigna, Humana, PHCS-Multiplan, Optum, Tricare, Magellan, Principal, ValueOptions, Lifesynch.

Forms and Letters
There will be a fee assessed for any forms, letters, or records requested by the patient.  Included in this list are disability forms, FMLA forms, Medical Record Requests, Employee Forms, Letters and Reports.  The fee will be based on the time and work involved.  You are responsible for these fees as they are not covered by insurance.

Initial records to referring physician or PCP are without charge for the first 10 pages.

Prescriptions
We will provide prescriptions at the time of your appointment.  Refills of prescriptions will not be mailed or called in for missed appointments.  We are happy to reschedule you to the earliest available date.  Please do ensure that you will not run out of your prescription prior to your scheduled appointment.  If a prescription must be called in or mailed for a missed appointment, a $25 fee will be applied to your account.

After hours coverage
We do provide a 24 hour answering service for emergencies after office hours.  Any call deemed non emergent will be returned in a timely manner during regular business hours.