No Surprises Act

Section 2799B-6 of the Public Health Service Act, a federal law known as the “No Surprises Act,” requires health care providers to provide clients a “Good Faith Estimate” of expected charges.  Providers – including therapists like me – must give a fee estimate to clients who lack or are not using insurance.  Also, clients may dispute any bill that exceeds a good faith estimate by $400 or more.  At the start of our work together and then at the beginning of each subsequent year, I issue each client a “good faith estimate” of the cost of services for the year, based on the rate charged for the type of service.

The cost of my services is a function of my fee, frequency of service and duration of treatment.  Accurately determining the length of treatment for mental health care prior to meeting is impossible.  Moreover, each client who works with me has the right to determine their goals for treatment and how long they want to remain in therapy.  I generally work with clients weekly, sometimes on an every-other-week basis.  The per-session fee set forth above, combined with the weekly or every other week schedule, allows each client to determine the expected cost of services for the year, assuming we meet for the full year.  Contact your health plan to find out whether your plan will reimburse fees for my services.

For more information about your rights, please see www.cms.gov/nosurprises and here.