Insurance Reimbursement If you have health insurance, your behavioral health treatments may be covered in whole or in part. The BHCTC will assist you in determining your insurance coverage and will help you fill out any forms needed. Many managed care plans often require an authorization before treatment can begin. You may be required to contact your insurance company to obtain this authorization and/or receive it from your primary care physician. Many managed care plans limit counseling and therapy services to short-term treatment designed to work out specific problems that prevent people from living and working as they normally do. As this is the BHCTC’s model of treatment, this often works out well. Where necessary, we may request more sessions from the managed care plan. In order to do so, we are typically required to complete the insurance company’s forms which may include providing your diagnosis, the reasons you have sought treatment from the BHCTC, the symptoms you are suffering, and how long we believe treatment will or should continue. The information provided will become part of the insurance company’s files. Insurance companies are obligated to keep this information confidential; however, please note that the BHCTC has no control over the handling of this information by the insurance company. If you receive treatment from one of our NJ Licensed Psychologists, your insurance company may request that you authorize the psychologist to disclose certain confidential information in order to obtain insurance coverage benefits for these services. This disclosure can occur only if it is pursuant to a valid authorization and the information is limited to: 1) administrative information (name, age, sex, fees, dates, nature of sessions, etc.); 2) diagnostic information; 3) the status of the patient (voluntary/involuntary; inpatient/outpatient); 4) the reason for continuing psychological services (limited to an assessment of the current level of functioning and the level of distress both rated as mild, moderate, severe or extreme); and 5) a prognosis, limited to the estimated minimal length of treatment. If the Insurance Company has reasonable cause to believe that the psychological treatment in question may not be usual, customary or is unreasonable, it may request an independent review of such treatment by an independent review committee. While a lot can be accomplished in short-term therapy, some people feel they need more services after their insurance benefits end. If this is the case with you, we will discuss what our fees are and the best way for you to arrange payment in order to receive continued treatment. If your insurance company does not allow us to see you after your benefits end, we will be happy to assist you in finding another therapist who will work well with you. It is also important to remember that you always have the right to pay for your treatment yourself to avoid any insurance issues discussed above.
