About Psychological and Educational Testing
All comprehensive assessments consist of:
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An intake session with parents or guardians (lasting about 1 hour).
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All required testing sessions, anywhere from 2-8 hours of face to face testing with a doctoral level psychologist, not a graduate student or masters level technician.
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A feedback session with parents or guardians to go over the written results and discuss recommendations (approximately 60-90 minutes).
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A comprehensive but parent friendly report including personalized recommendations relevant to the educational setting (15-30 pages depending on the referral question).
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Evaluations can be briefer and more direct depending on the referral question and prior testing.
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We do not take insurance for testing but we do accept Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) as a form of payment.
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THREE IMPORTANT REASONS WHY WE DO NOT ACCEPT INSURANCE FOR COMPREHENSIVE TESTING:
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Not covered: Most insurance plans do not cover psychological testing for developmental delays, learning difficulties or emotional disturbances. They classify these services as 'educational' rather than 'medical,' even if the provider is in-network for psychotherapy. Insurance companies only reimburse for services they have rubber stamped as 'medically necessary’ meaning that a mental health or learning disorder must have already been diagnosed and shown to impact daily functioning in order for them to pay for the testing. Obviously this is a great loophole for the insurers since most parents do not yet know the exact nature of their child's difficulties and are looking for answers, while most respectable physicians will want to refer for a full psychological evaluation in order to make these complicated diagnoses. Non-clinicial insurance reps will often tell parents to that a medical eval is covered, only to learn that this was a single visit appointment to their pediatrician or neurologist consisting of a brief symptom questionnaire. These parents will often return a year later suspecting that their diagnosis was oversimplified or that their child's medication is not helping.
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Piecemeal Preapproval: In the rare case that an insurance pre-approves testing, they will often state ‘a quote for benefits does not guarantee payment,’ meaning coverage is often denied even after receiving authorization. Pre-approvals often require insurance company staff to 'authorize' each specific test your psychologist deems necessary before beginning the assessment. With comprehensive evaluations, this could be up to a dozen! Since we customize our evaluations based on the child's needs and the referral question, this process does not align with our individualized, time-sensitive approach. In fact, pre-approval can drag the process out for many weeks and you will often see these delays play out in hospitals, larger practices and public health settings with testing waitlists of 6 months or more. Worse, frustrated providers will cut corners in an effort to get reimbursement and deliver a cookie-cutter report months later, wasting even more precious time and opportunity for intervention. We see these scenarios too often as the ‘second opinion’ specialist.
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Privacy Concerns: When using insurance, we are obligated to provide a mental health diagnosis/code for reimbursement, which is unethical if your child does not meet the criteria for a diagnosis. It also involves sharing your sensitive information with third parties. Often parents do not wish to share sensitive information and diagnoses with insurance companies. Not using insurance allows parents full control over their child's health record and who has access to it.
