No Surprise Act (1/1/2022):

On January 1, 2022 the No Surprise Act went into effect. Its goal is to help consumers have a clear understanding of the costs of healthcare services. The act stipulates that all healthcare providers must provide a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of the totality of care for any services they plan to provide to a consumer. The GFE must include a diagnosis and must be provided to the client BEFORE their scheduled service or procedure.

Having a GFE makes sense in advance of a surgical procedure or medical testing, but is more complicated in outpatient mental health care. As a provisionally licensed social worker under supervision of an LCSW, I cannot ethically provide a diagnosis to a client before meeting with them. In some cases I do not provide a diagnosis, but I do provide a diagnosis when one is required or when a client uses an HSA insurance account for payment of services.

Another factor complicating the need for a GFE in mental health care is that of client autonomy. My practice is largely client-led, meaning clients (and their caregivers) decide with what frequency they attend sessions, based on their current needs. There are times when they may feel stressed and schedule additional sessions, and there are other times where they may feel things are going well and they want to reduce the frequency with which they schedule appointments. Since the most important aspect of therapy is the relationship, there are some clients who will need more time getting comfortable with the process of talk therapy, and others who will be ready to process emotions immediately. This gives a vast spectrum of what treatment timelines look like for different clients.

These factors make it difficult to say that treatment for X diagnosis will last Y number of weeks or cost Z dollars. What I can do is provide general information about the cost of services so that you can make an informed decision about how much services are likely to cost your family.

Once we discuss the details of working together, you will receive electronic paperwork that speaks further to this bill and you will receive your own GFE. As always, if you have questions about the cost of sessions or the expected efficacy of treatment, please let me know and we can talk more about what you might expect.

Sincerely,

~ heidi hewett