Practice Policies

APPOINTMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS

Accedence Counseling values providing accessible care to clients and accepts EAP and state benefit programs to cover services. Accedence Counseling also values the time of our staff and clients. It is important that clients are invested in attending therapy sessions. The following policies are to support our values and investment of our staff and clients for therapy services.

 

Scheduled appointments are time set aside for clients to receive therapy services for their needs and goals. Appointments are the responsibility of the client to manage. Reminders are sent as a courtesy, but ultimately the client owns the task of keeping and adjusting appointments.

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Fees for No Shows and Late Cancellations are also the responsibility of the client. Services will not be provided to clients who have not paid their balances or are in violation of the No Show and Late Cancellation policies.

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Scheduling-

Appointments can be scheduled through the SimplePractice portal or within session with the therapist. If a client is scheduling a session within 12 hours of an appointment time, they can email, text or call us to request the appointment.

Appointments for psychotherapy are 50 minutes long. For clients who want to schedule for longer, this will need to be discussed with Accedence Counseling to determine the fee for extended sessions. For clients wanting to schedule more than once a week, that will need to be discussed and confirmed by Accedence Counseling to ensure the correct level of care is being used.

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Late Cancellation-

A late cancellation is when an appointment is cancelled with less than 24 hours before the session. A fee of $120 will be billed to the client account for late cancellations. Cancellations made more than 24 hours before the appointment time can be made through email, text or phone call. Reminders for appointments are sent through our portal as a courtesy. It is recommended that clients add their appointments to their personal calendars.

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No Shows-

An appointment is considered a no show after 10 minutes of the appointment. Clients will be charged the No Show fee of $120. If a client is going to be more than 10 minutes late to a session, they are responsible for calling, texting or emailing Accedence Counseling to confirm late attendance to a session and prevent a fee from being charged. Once the client appears for the session, they will have the remainder of their session. Sessions will not go over the initial appointment timeframe.

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NOTE: If a client is having technical difficulties or is on the video session but not seeing the therapist connect, they should call, text or email Accedence Counseling for assistance and to inform of attendance to the session to avoid any no show fees.

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EAP Benefits-

For clients using EAP benefits for services. There are some EAPs that allow Accedence Counseling to bill the client for No Shows and Late Cancellations. Clients will be informed by Accedence Counseling intake and with an addendum to sign that shows the client is aware and in agreement with the policy and fees associated. Fees for missed appointments and late cancellations will be billed to the credit card on file. Nonpayment of fees will result in termination of services until invoices are paid in full. If a client cannot make payments, they will be referred to their EAP to request another service provider.

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For EAP plans that do not allow Accedence Counseling to bill the client for No Shows and Late Cancellations clients will be allowed one (1) late cancellation or no show. If there is another late cancellation or no show, services will be terminated and clients will be referred back to their EAP provider to get connected with another service provider.

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Clients may elect to pay the fee for missed appointments or late cancellations to continue therapy services. A signed agreement from the client will be required to document the client’s awareness and understanding that they are electing to pay the fee and that Accedence Counseling is not billing the client without permission.

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State Benefits-

For clients using state benefit insurance and other programs for therapy services one (1) late cancellation or no show will be allowed. If there is another late cancellation or no show, therapy services will be terminated. Clients may elect to pay the fee for missed appointments or late cancellations to continue therapy services. A signed agreement from the client will be required to document the client’s awareness and understanding that they are electing to pay the fee and that Accedence Counseling is not billing the client without permission.

 

CREDIT CARD AND SERVICE PAYMENT POLICY

Credit card information is required to be in a client’s file at the time of registering for services. Your credit card will be stored securely and will be used for outstanding balances for session copays/coinsurances, late cancellation fees, no call/no show fees and for client paperwork request fees.

If the credit card on file lacks sufficient funds or is declined for the transaction, the client will not be able to book additional sessions, and future sessions will be canceled until the balance is paid. Client accounts with past due invoices will have portal access restricted and future scheduled appointments cancelled until account balances are paid.

Checks, Zelle, Venmo, Cashapp, bank transfers, etc. are not accepted as a form of payment

Clients can contact Accedence Counseling to make payments and update their payment method if needed.

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TELEPHONE ACCESSIBILITY

If you need to contact us, please call 214-631-9208. You can leave a message or text this phone number. We will do our best to respond to messages within 24 hours.

For technical issues or extenuating circumstances, phone sessions are available. It is preferred to have video sessions for the benefit of client care.

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SOCIAL MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION

Due to the importance of your confidentiality and the importance of minimizing dual relationships, I do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any of my personal social networking sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). I believe that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we meet and we can talk more about it.

Accedence Counseling has social media accounts that you can follow and interact with. Check our website for that information.

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ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

I cannot ensure the confidentiality of any form of communication through electronic media, including text messages. If you prefer to communicate via email or text messaging for issues regarding scheduling or cancellations, I will do so. While I may try to return messages in a timely manner, I cannot guarantee immediate response and request that you do not use these methods of communication to discuss therapeutic content and/or request assistance for emergencies.

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Services by electronic means, including but not limited to telephone communication, the Internet, facsimile machines, and e-mail is considered telemedicine by the State of California. Under the California Telemedicine Act of 1996, telemedicine is broadly defined as the use of information technology to deliver medical services and information from one location to another. If you and your therapist chose to use information technology for some or all of your treatment, you need to understand that: (1) You retain the option to withhold or withdraw consent at any time without affecting the right to future care or treatment or risking the loss or withdrawal of any program benefits to which you would otherwise be entitled. (2) All existing confidentiality protections are equally applicable. (3) Your access to all medical information transmitted during a telemedicine consultation is guaranteed, and copies of this information are available for a reasonable fee. (4) Dissemination of any of your identifiable images or information from the telemedicine interaction to researchers or other entities shall not occur without your consent. (5) There are potential risks, consequences, and benefits of telemedicine. Potential benefits include, but are not limited to improved communication capabilities, providing convenient access to up-to-date information, consultations, support, reduced costs, improved quality, change in the conditions of practice, improved access to therapy, better continuity of care, and reduction of lost work time and travel costs. Effective therapy is often facilitated when the therapist gathers within a session or a series of sessions, a multitude of observations, information, and experiences about the client. Therapists may make clinical assessments, diagnosis, and interventions based not only on direct verbal or auditory communications, written reports, and third person consultations, but also from direct visual and olfactory observations, information, and experiences. When using information technology in therapy services, potential risks include, but are not limited to the therapist's inability to make visual and olfactory observations of clinically or therapeutically potentially relevant issues such as: your physical condition including deformities, apparent height and weight, body type, attractiveness relative to social and cultural norms or standards, gait and motor coordination, posture, work speed, any noteworthy mannerism or gestures, physical or medical conditions including bruises or injuries, basic grooming and hygiene including appropriateness of dress, eye contact (including any changes in the previously listed issues), sex, chronological and apparent age, ethnicity, facial and body language, and congruence of language and facial or bodily expression. Potential consequences thus include the therapist not being aware of what he or she would consider important information, that you may not recognize as significant to present verbally the therapist.

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MINORS

If you are a minor, your parents may be legally entitled to some information about your therapy. I will discuss with you and your parents what information is appropriate for them to receive, and which issues are more appropriately kept confidential.

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TERMINATION/GRADUTION FROM THERAPY

Accedence Counseling has a focus on ensuring therapy services are provided as needed and utilized. The end of the therapy relationship with our therapists can happen as a graduation or termination. Graduation occurs when the client and therapist agree that the client has reached their goals or a space where they feel confident that they will be able to manage without the support of treatment. A plan of how to reduce sessions until graduation will be discussed and agreed upon by the client and therapist. Should the client need therapy services again, they can contact Accedence Counseling to become a client again.

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There are instances where therapy may not be the priority or it may not be utilized well. Also, there are instances where there may not be a fit for a client to work with our therapists. In that case, we will initiate a termination of services. Depending on the severity of situation, termination may happen immediately and communications will be handled by our administrative team to supply resources for treatment. In other cases, a conversation with the client will be initiated by the therapist to discuss the barriers and challenges to continuing services. After the final session, the administrative team will send communication to the client with the resources and a treatment summary that a client can use with their next provider.

Another way a termination of services is determined is if a client does not schedule an appointment for 2 months. At that point the client is no longer considered an active client. For legal and ethical purposes, the therapy relationship is terminated.

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Additionally, clients who have outstanding balances will have their services terminated until all balances are paid in full. Please ensure you have a valid card on file that has sufficient funds. Invoices and/or communications about outstanding balances will be sent to clients.

Once graduated or terminated, portal access will be deactivated. For clients eligible to return for services, contact us to get your account reactivated. If you have any outstanding balances at the time of reactivation, they must be paid in full before an appointment is accepted.