Privacy Policy
The law protects the relationship between a client and a provider, and sessions may not be shared without your written permission. Therefore, information that needs to be disclosed to doctors, attorneys, educators, families, insurance companies, or any other interested parties will require a signed release with proof of identification. Parents/legal guardians legally have the right to their dependent’s records. If you are the only guardian to access your dependent’s records, you must let us know immediately, and provide legal documentation confirming this. Without this documentation, we assume the other parent has access as do you to your dependent’s information.
There are exceptions to confidentiality you should know about, and these include:
- Suspected child abuse/neglect or dependent adult or elder abuse/neglect, for which we are required by law to report to the appropriate authorities immediately
- If a client threatens serious bodily harm to another person or persons, we are required by law to notify the police and inform the intended victim.
- If a client intends to harm himself or herself, we will make every effort to enlist his/her cooperation in ensuring his/her safety. If he/she do not cooperate, we will take further measures without his/her permission that are provided to us by law in order to ensure his/her personal safety, and compromise confidentiality if necessary, as discreetly as possible while maintaining safety parameters.
Session Appointments
All appointments for existing clients may be booked, rescheduled, and canceled online on in our patient portal. After your initial Intake appointment is scheduled, you will receive a link to enroll in our patient portal. After logging in, please see the Appointment Calendar page of your provider. As is common practice, we require a 48-hour notice to cancel or reschedule your session. Upon arrival to your first appointment, we require you to put a credit card on file because you are essentially purchasing your session time slot in advance. Failure to show up or cancel without a 48-hour notice will incur our no-show fee. We are not able to bill your insurance for this no-show, as we have not seen you, and therefore this would be considered Insurance Fraud. Therefore, you will be charged in full for your session in these circumstances. You have the option of notifying Strategies for Success of your need to cancel/reschedule via the portal, via voicemail or via email.
We ask you to please arrive 30 minutes prior to your Intake Appointment, to confirm all forms are completed, and 15 minutes prior to your follow up session. If you are more than 10 minutes late to your scheduled appointment, your provider reserves the right to reschedule your appointment, and your appointment will be considered a no-show.
Fees for Services
As a provider for many insurance companies and employee assistance programs, we have agreed to some discounted fees. Prior to your first appointment, our admin team will obtain verification that your insurance/EAP is active and will confirm your benefits. At times, after submitting the bill, we may be advised that the insurance in fact does not cover the services. We will notify you to work this out, however ultimately you are responsible for any charges not covered by the insurance/EAP your provide us when scheduling the appointment. Ultimately, you are responsible for making sure that your insurance is active and accepted, and we encourage you to call and verify your benefits before your first appointment. Our office will submit your claims directly with your permission as a courtesy. However, even doing so, you will be responsible for any non-covered costs, such as co-pays or deductibles, or denied claims that we are unable to resolve. If you choose to be a private-pay client, we accept payment via cash, checks and visa/ mastercard. We will bill your credit card on file for all outstanding balances. We do not send out statements via mail, however you are welcome to request a current balance at any time. At times, we realize you may experience a financial hardship. In select cases, we are happy to work out a payment plan for you, just ask! Reduced-fee services are available via our Affordable Service Plan Program. Our Fees page is where you can view what is included in all of our programs and what we charge for them.
Social Media Policy
As a rule, we do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any similar social media sites. We believe that this compromises your confidentiality as a client and our respective privacy.
We do maintain a Facebook page and a Yelp Page in order to communicate about the practice and about events or topics in general, which we think will be interesting to a broad variety of visitors. You are not required to like our page or become a fan in any way. However, if you do, we do appreciate the feedback. Unfortunately, due to the nature of our services, most only write reviews when they are dissatisfied, not when they are happy. We encourage you to make your own decision. You always have the option to write a review on the page, and we do welcome and appreciate that! just remember, it is not confidential and is out of our ability to maintain your confidentiality when you post your information on-line. We encourage you to be aware of any global positioning system (GPS) location-identifying apps or devices on your phone when you come to SFS for your appointment. Checking in is not required, nor is it recommended. If you have questions about this, we will refer you to your phone’s manufacturer or the software company responsible for the application that caused your concern. Our office can be of no assistance in this regard.
Subpoena Policy
Court cases require a great deal of preparation and time away from our practice. As such, no matter what the source of the lawsuit, if we are subpoenaed to testify due to your standing as a client (previous or current), you will be responsible for the fees associated with any testimony, at a minimum of $500.00/hour. We will expect that these fees will be paid before any testimony and that the testimony will not be that of an expert witness but as a witness of facts. The fees may or may not include our expenses for materials, expenses, prep time, courtroom waiting time, transportation time testimony time. Our services are Voluntary. Therefore, we do not provide counseling nor recommendations regarding court concerns, child custody or family court matters. We also only communicate with those who provide a release of information, provided with proof of identity. We have the right to refer you to another provider who’s specialty is court-related services, and is at the discretion of the provider. You are always welcome to obtain a copy of your own medical records for this purpose, and coordinate the transfer of the information independently of Strategies for Success.
Only a one-time charge for the setup of the program as an introductory promotion. Since 2018, our programs are offered with monthly and annual membership options.
In general, our rates are billed in 15-minute increments and applied to phone contact, paperwork completion, coordination of care, case management, preparation of patient records and school reports, and no-show and late cancellation fees (less than 48 hours and less than 3 hours before scheduled appointment time).
The membership fee must be paid in full to access the discounted rates. ASP members will gain access to special events, seminars, and promotions. This makes a wonderful birthday or holiday gift!
SAP Specialty Programs
Clients are to attend intake appointments for psychiatry and psychotherapy, complete assessment modules, laboratories (if indicated), and drug and alcohol testing during their first appointment. This applies to binge eating/weight loss and drug and alcohol education programs.
Drug and Alcohol Education Program
Groups or individuals will undergo drug and alcohol testing and monitoring performed by a nurse practitioner. They will attend counseling intake, psych intake, drug and ethanol testing, and testing modules.
