Carrier Clinic Fees:
Common Questions about Psychological Testing:
- Can you just charge my insurance company and wait for payment? No, insurance companies more often than not, do not cover all if any of the cost of a psychological evaluation. When they do, it is only after the patient has contacted them numerous times and they may reluctantly agree to pay only a portion of it. The cost for me to seek funding from insurance companies will not be worth cost involved. I will charge the patient or responsible party for the time spent trying to get the insurance company to reimburse me for my services and the patient will not benefit from the reduced cost of the test battery that I have offered as an incentive to pay the contingency fee upfront. I will however, provide you with a bill for time spent so that you can attempt to seek reimbursement from your plan.
- Why do I need an evaluation anyway? Psychiatrists are professionally and ethically required to base their decisions, in part, on objective criteria when treating patients. Psychological assessments provide objective testing and a second opinion from an experienced psychologist that can be useful in determining the patient’s medication regime, diagnosis and whether they need further testing or referrals to other professionals, such as neurologist.
- What happens if my psychiatrist does not want cognitive or neuropsychological testing done and only wants personality tests administered? I will try my best to prepare reports that are as cost efficient as possible. If you are willing to come to my office and provide the necessary documents and I can obtain the collateral contacts in an efficient manner, I can try to accommodate the psychiatrist’s request. But the greatest value and the most useful reports often include both the cognitive and personality portions included in a standard battery.
- If I feel comfortable working with you as my evaluator, can I see you as a therapist in private practice? There are ethical considerations that need to be taken into account. I cannot serve dual roles being an evaluator who may recommend therapy and then volunteer to be your therapist.
- What happens if you are paid the contingency fee, schedule an appointment and the patient fails to keep it because of illness or simply not willing to cooperate? There will be a $150.00 fee for canceled visits made within twenty four hours of the appointment. There will be an additional $50.00 travel time charge if a cancellation occurs while I am en route or have arrived at Carrier. If the patient begins the assessment and refuses to cooperate, the patient will be charged for !50.00 for each hour spent testing plus additional fees for test supplies, travel time and cost for time writing up a summary of the contact. These charges will be deducted from the collected fee and the remainder will be returned to the party who paid the contingency fee.
- Can I get a copy of this evaluation? Guardians, adult patients and minors over fourteen with their guardians co-signing the release of information can request a copy of the evaluation. Raw test data, on the other hand, is not released except by court order to another qualified psychologist. I recommend that you have your psychotherapist or family physician formally request you psychological evaluation after you sign the proper releases of information with Carrier, with this evaluator and/or your physician in the community. This evaluation is being prepared for the psychiatry staff at the Carrier Clinic. If you request your evaluation directly from this evaluator, an administration fee of $75.00 will be incurred.
The fees experienced independent psychologists charge for preparing psychological evaluations average between $150- 225.00 an hour. My customary fee is $175.00 an hour. I have agreed to charge $150.00 an hour for patients referred from Carrier to my office and to accept the Medicaid/Medicare allowance for patients on disability who have access to no other insurance.
Usually, requests for psychological evaluations from Carrier involve personality and cognitive assessments along with neuropsychological screenings. Personality Assessments usually take six hours to interview the patient, test, score, interpret, collect collateral information, prepare and write up a report. Likewise, cognitive evaluations for children and adults can take six hours to test, interview, review the record, collect collateral information and to write up a report (with academic achievement tests adding yet another hour to the time). Neuropsychological screenings that may involve memory scales among a variety of other screening instruments usually take six hours to prepare as well.
At Carrier’s agreed upon $150.00 an hour fee, A full Battery without a neuropsychological screening may reasonably cost= $1800.00
To further reduce my rates, if the patient and responsible parties agree to pay my full fee prior to the release of the test to Carrier, my fee for personality and cognitive testing, with interview, collateral contacts if needed and review of record will be= $1500.00 (with testing done prior to the patient’s admission to Carrier) or $1600 (with testing done on the Carrier premises)
If a psychiatrist orders a series of neuropsychological screenings, the cost will largely for the screenings alone will be $150 x 6 hours = $900 +/- a $100. The cost may be higher if the order is to include additional personality and cognitive testing found in the standard battery noted above.
If the patient is on Medicare or Medicaid, I have agreed to accept the reduced rate and send my bill directly to Medicaid/Medicare on the stipulation that the patient has paid their co-pay and deductible prior to the evaluation being released. To facilitate matters, please call your Medicare/Medicaid provider to find out what your or your family member's co-pay and deductible is.
Often the patient may not have all the monies available and for this reason, credit card charges can be made. Patients on limited incomes are encouraged to ask extended family members to agree to contribute towards the fee and they and the responsible parties must sign waivers allowing charges to automatically be made on their credit cards by this evaluator. On the rare occasion that no monies are available and testing is imperative then Carrier and this evaluator will discuss how to off set the cost of an evaluation in a fair and compassionate manner. No evaluations will be released until the fees are paid in full.