Policies

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Appointments
Appointments are scheduled by telephone following a brief conversation about your particular needs and situation. Please call at (504) 482-1412 and leave a confidential voice message with your name, telephone number, and some best times to receive a return phone call. Referrals from physicians are welcome, but prospective patients do not need to have a physician referral to make an initial appointment for services.

Fees
Consultation, evaluation, testing, and therapeutic service fees are set by the hour and depend upon the type of service provided (individual psychotherapy, family therapy, psychological testing, etc.) and the location (in-office, school, hospital etc.). Psychological evaluations will include time billed for collecting data, scoring, interpretation and report-writing. The fee for an initial consultation is $250.

Payment
Full payment for services are due at time of your appointment or in advance of Telehealth services beginning. Multiple standing appointments should be paid monthly in advance. School consultation or evaluation reports must be paid in advance. We accept cash in person, Amex, Visa, Mastercard, Discover and most debit cards as a form of payment.

Health Insurance
Unless otherwise specified, all services scheduled will be considered self-pay and fees will be charged for service. You will be provided with a good faith estimate of charges at the time you schedule your initial visit. 

Dr. Newman is an "in network" provider for select national, Federal, and Louisiana Blue Cross/Blue Shield PPO and Worker's Comp plans only.  For all other plans, we are "out of network." As a courtesy, our office will offer to file with most insurance plans on your behalf, or we will provide you with the information you need to file for reimbursement on your own. This includes any insurance plans or programs that have an open choice of provider or an out-of-network coverage option (e.g. Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield HMO, Cigna, Coventry, Guilsbar, Tricare, United, Magellan, Humana, Value Options, etc.). Insurance claims for services will only be filed by our office on your written request. 

Determination of health insurance coverage can be rather complex: We will help new patients anticipate reimbursement rates from their insurance plan, but we can not guarantee specific reimbursement amounts. Rarely are amounts known until after an insurance company actually pays the benefits for a claim that is submitted, a number of weeks later. We do not accept partial fee payments for any out-of-network insurance plans. Co-payments or co-insurance (a percentage of the fee) will be accepted at the time of visit only for verified "in-network" plans after the patient has met any deductible amount. Some health insurance plans do not have a deductible amount, some have a high deductible. Typically, a plan that has an annual deductible amount resets at the start of each calendar year (often on January 1). At this time, Dr. Newman is an "in-network" provider for select BC/BS PPO plans only. For HMO plans, including Louisiana Blue Cross/Blue Shield HMO, Dr. Newman is an out-of-network provider. All out-of-network plan participants are responsible for payment of fees in full at the time of service.

Missed Appointment Policy (48-hours in advance notice)
Appointments are time held exclusively in reserve for your specific use. In earnest, we have a severe shortage of mental health hours available to the people who need care. For this reason, we are very firm about our 48-hour advanced notice for cancellation policy. 

You may change your appointment by calling the office at (504) 482-1412 or by sending an email to [email protected]  within 48 hours of the scheduled visit. Missed appointments can not be billed to insurance carriers. The patient will be responsible and charged the full session fee for missed appointments that are not cancelled within this 48-hour advance time frame. Appointments that are scheduled for a Monday must be cancelled by the previous Friday during business hours. 

Confidentiality and Privacy of Information
The privacy of your sensitive information is extremely important. This trust is protected and backed by the law. The law protects the relationship between a patient and a psychologist as privileged and protected health information (PHI). Protected Health Information (PHI) will not be disclosed without express written permission by the patient (or the patient's parents or legal guardians in the case of a minor child). As a rule, private information about your personal treatment will never be shared with partners, family, friends, employers, or schools without your explicit and specific request. 

Exceptions to the privacy of information include:

  • Suspected child abuse or dependent adult or elder abuse, for which I am required by law to report this to the appropriate authorities immediately.
  • If a patient is threatening serious bodily harm to another person, I must notify the police and inform the intended victim.
  • If a patient intends to harm themselves, I will make every effort to enlist their cooperation in insuring their safety. If they do not cooperate, I will take further measures without their permission that are provided by law in order to ensure a patient's safety.

Helpful Forms

Click here to view and print forms for your appointment.

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