THE CENTER FOR MENTAL AND SEXUAL HEALTH PRACTICE POLICIES
DEFINITIONS
The Center for Mental and Sexual Health LLC (us, we, our, The Center for Mental and Sexual Health, or The Center). Psychotherapy (therapy, counseling). Appointment (session). Clinical hour (50 minutes of face to face interaction with an Intern, Associate, or Licensed Mental Health Counselor which includes 10 minutes for administrative activities such as documentation, appointment scheduling, or billing concerns).
FEES, PAYMENT, AND BILLING
Payment Policy.
All fees are due at the time of service.
You acknowledge and accept full and complete responsibility for prompt payment for all services rendered by The Center for Mental and Sexual Health. You are responsible for filing claims with your insurance and payment for services.
Payment may be made using a credit or debit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Discover, and Diners Club) or a similar card issued by your Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA/FLEX). If your payment is declined after your session, you will have 72 hours to remedy payment.
We do not accept personal, company, or bank checks, money orders, wire transfers, or ACH transfers.
Charges from us should show THECENTERMSH, THECMSH, or MENTALANDSEXUALHEALTH on your statement.
Digital Payment Methods.
The Center for Mental and Sexual Health does accept payment using the following digital payment service(s):
Zelle (info@mentalandsexualhealth.com)
Please notify your therapist or our administrative team at info@mentalandsexualhealth.com.
Fees and Hourly Rates.
The fee for therapy is based on session duration and includes the time spent in direct therapy or consultation with family.
The evaluation fee is per hour and is based on the total time spent on the evaluation process (testing, scoring, analyzing results, formulating recommendations, and writing the report).
There will be a charge of $30.00 for 15-minute increments of any written documents for insurance or other companies related to your program. You will be informed of the cost of writing or editing these documents prior to the task. This does not include a treatment plan written and revised every 60 days.
Insurance Policy.
You understand that health insurance policies and reimbursement are between yourself and your health insurance company, and that all services rendered by us for the benefit of yourself or dependents are charged directly to you, and you are personally responsible for payment in full to The Center for Mental and Sexual Health.
Billing Policy.
You understand that we will automatically generate an invoice and charge your payment method on file automatically after your scheduled session. You will also receive a monthly statement detailing any charges you have paid or are due. If you require a Statement for Insurance Reimbursement, it will be automatically generated for the previous month’s billing activity. Please notify your therapist or the administrative team at info@mentalandsexualhealth.com.
If you require a monthly invoice, we will issue you an invoice for a balance equal to Four (4) sessions at your normal session rate, whichever amount is less, to be paid in full on receipt. This will be renewed monthly based on the level of care you and your therapist agree to. You will receive a monthly statement reflecting your current balance and any session transactions.
You understand that if your outstanding balance due to us for treatment becomes Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or more, we reserve the right to withhold services up to and until such balance is paid in full.
Late Payments and Collections.
If no payment is received a 10% late fee will be charged after 30 days. After 60 days of non payment, we will begin collection activities which may include contacting an outside collection agency.
Returned Payments or Disputed Charges.
If your payment is returned by your bank for any reason or you dispute a charge on your card without first communicating with our office or your therapist, you will be responsible for all fees incurred and a $50 administrative charge.
Waiving of Fees.
Your therapist or The Center for Mental and Sexual Health may provide you a courtesy of waiving accrued late cancellation, no show, or late payment fees. This does not constitute as policy and is at the discretion of your therapist and The Center for Mental and Sexual Health.
Fee Schedule.
The fee schedule represents standard practice-wide pricing as of the current time of this agreement. We will notify you of any pricing changes and updates to pricing will be displayed on our website. Exceptions for pricing may include services for Dr. Erika Miley, Clinical Interns, and Clinical Associates.
Individual & Family Services
Psychotherapy Intake up to 90 minutes - $200
Psychotherapy for Individuals up to 52 minutes - $160
Psychotherapy for Individuals 53 to 89 minutes - $200
Psychotherapy for Couples or Family up to 52 minutes - $180
Psychotherapy for Couples or Family 53 to 89 minutes - $220
Psychotherapy Additional Time (Individuals or Couples or Family) - $40 per 30-minute increment over 89 minutes.
Mental Health Assessments or Evaluations - $200.00 per hour. *
Document Fee - $30 per 15-minute increment.
Group Therapy Services
$40.00 per session.
* Some assessments or evaluations have a separate fee attached instead of an hourly rate depending on market factors. This will be discussed with you prior to the assessment or evaluation.
Membership Program for Therapy Services
The Center for Mental and Sexual Health offers a membership program for clients to receive a discount for therapy services by pre-purchasing their sessions on a recurring monthly subscription. A separate agreement contains all details of this program and can be requested at any time. Not all clinicians participate in this program.
CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION
You understand and authorize The Center for Mental and Sexual Health to collect and maintain your credit, debit, or FSA/HSA card on file to schedule sessions.
The payment method on file can be used to pay for any copays, co-insurance, deductibles, no shows/late cancellations or out of pocket payments if no other payment method is used at the time of the session or if a cancellation fee is incurred (in which case, the payment card on file will be charged a late cancellation fee equal to the session fee).
Your payment information will be stored in a secure cloud-based computer system and removed upon termination of this agreement. You may update your payment information from the client portal at any time.
The Center for Mental and Sexual Health requires that you provide a method of payment for us to hold on file. If you choose to refuse to provide a payment method your services will be terminated.
APPOINTMENTS AND CANCELLATION
Appointment Policy.
The standard meeting time for individual, family, or couples’ psychotherapy is typically 50 minutes. It is up to you, however, to determine the length of time of your sessions. Requests to change the standard session need to be discussed with your therapist for additional time to be scheduled in advance.
Sessions will end at the scheduled time even if they start late. If you are late for your session, the session charge will not be adjusted, and you will be billed for your scheduled session.
Cancellation Policy.
You must provide at least 48 hours of notice prior to your scheduled session, either to your therapist or our office staff if you intend to cancel or reschedule your session. Notice may be given by email, phone, or voicemail. Notice may be given outside of normal business hours but must still be at least 48 hours.
You may also use our client portal to cancel your session and/or schedule a new one outside of 48 hours.
Phone: (509) 300-4257
Email: info@mentalandsexualhealth.com or your therapist’s direct email.
Late Arrival, Late Cancellation, and No-Show Policy.
Cancelling your scheduled session with less than 48 hours of notice will incur a Late Cancellation Fee equal to the full session fee.
If you do not show up for your scheduled session, you will be charged a Late Cancellation Fee equal to the scheduled session fee.
If this occurs three (3) times within 60 days, we will consider the therapeutic relationship to be terminated.
If you are going to be late for your scheduled session, please contact your therapist to let them know. If you are late for three (3) or more sessions in 30 days, your services may be terminated. Please see the section on Termination for more details.
Multiple Cancellations.
Therapy sessions canceled five (5) or more times, regardless of the reason, during a three-month period are subject to a charge of the regular therapy rate.
TELEPHONE ACCESSIBILITY
If you need to contact your therapist between sessions, please leave a message on their voice mail or send an email. Therapists are often not immediately available; however, they will attempt to return your call or email within 24 hours. Please note that Online Video Sessions are highly preferable to phone sessions. However, in the event that you are out of town, sick or need additional support, phone sessions are available. If a true emergency situation arises, please call 911 (United States) or your local emergency phone number (Outside of the United States).
SOCIAL MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION
Due to the importance of your confidentiality and the importance of minimizing dual relationships, your therapist will not accept friend or contact requests from you on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). The Center for Mental and Sexual Health believes that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and your therapist’s respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of the therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when you meet with your therapist to talk more about it.
REVIEWS, TESTIMONIALS, AND REFERRALS
In the interest of your confidentiality, The Center for Mental and Sexual Health will never ask you to leave a review or testimonial on any public platform (Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc.) while you are a current client.
At the conclusion of your therapy or annually, whichever comes first, you may be sent a form to optionally leave feedback. We collect information on how we can better serve our clients and operate as a business.
Referrals of family, friends, or colleagues are generally welcome. We will never share information about you or your personal health information, or your therapy sessions with anyone you choose to refer to our practice.
We do not offer any incentive for referring a client beyond a simple thank you. We feel that incentivizing clients in our care to refer others damages the therapeutic relationship.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION
The Center for Mental and Sexual Health 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, your therapist will do so.
While your therapist may try to return messages in a timely manner, The Center for Mental and Sexual Health cannot guarantee immediate response and requests that you do not use these methods of communication to discuss therapeutic content and/or request assistance for emergencies.
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:
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.
All existing confidentiality protections are equally applicable.
Your access to all medical information transmitted during a telemedicine consultation is guaranteed, and copies of this information are available for a reasonable fee.
Dissemination of any of your identifiable images or information from the telemedicine interaction to researchers or other entities shall not occur without your consent.
There are potential risks, consequences, and benefits of telemedicine. 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.
Potential benefits may 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, reduction of lost work time, or travel costs.
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, or congruence of language, 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 to the therapist.
USE OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION FOR MARKETING AND BUSINESS PURPOSES
The Center for Mental and Sexual Health reserves the right to send you email, text (SMS or MMS), and/or phone call in order to communicate with you. Communications, except where prohibited by law, may include but are not limited to:
Marketing of products and services
Appointment reminders
Appointment confirmations
Notices related to payment, billing, or record keeping
Notices about changes to our business practices and policies
You may revoke authorization for us to communicate with you electronically at any time. You understand that if we cannot send you appointment reminders and you miss appointments, our cancellation and termination policies still apply.
MINORS
If you are a minor, your parents may be legally entitled to some information about your therapy. Your therapist will discuss with you and your parents’ what information is appropriate for them to receive and which issues are more appropriately kept confidential.
TERMINATION
Ending relationships can be difficult. Therefore, it is important to have a termination process to achieve some closure. The appropriate length of the termination depends on the length and intensity of the treatment.
Your therapist may terminate treatment after appropriate discussion with you and a termination process if your therapist determines that the psychotherapy is not being effectively used or if you are in default on payment.
Your therapist will not terminate the therapeutic relationship without first discussing and exploring the reasons and purpose of terminating. If therapy is terminated for any reason or you request another therapist, The Center for Mental and Sexual Health may provide you with a list of qualified psychotherapists to treat you.
You may also choose someone on your own or from another referral source.
Should you fail to schedule an appointment for three consecutive weeks, unless other arrangements have been made in advance, for legal and ethical reasons, The Center for Mental and Sexual Health must consider the professional relationship discontinued.
POLICY UPDATES
This policy may be updated at any given time and required to be signed to continue services. A 30-day notice will be given prior to any changes.
This policy was created January 1, 2018, and last updated on July 1, 2023.