TELEPSYCHIATRY ONLY PRACTICE

Victory Health Practice Policy

 

These policies are to offer you the highest care according to the law and professional guidelines. They clarify our roles and responsibilities. By coming to see us, you are agreeing to abide by these policies. Victory Health operates strictly within these policies to maximize safety. You should see another provider if your needs cannot be accommodated within these policies and you want more flexibility.

Please call 911 or visit your local emergency room for emergencies; if you ever feel like hurting yourself or, hurting others, or cannot get out of bed/eat/do your normal activities of daily living.

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

 

• Appointments must be made in advance. There are no drop-ins except in emergency cases for established patients.

• Practice hours are generally only what is available when you make your initial appointment, or what was agreed upon,still we are open Mon-Fri

• The practice is closed on Saturdays & Sundays to promote work-life balance.

• In general, Victory Health providers can only send prescriptions to states in which we are credentialed in and have active DEA. We are not able to send routine prescription orders to pharmacies out of states of practice.

• Pets are not permitted in the office due to allergies of others in our workspace.

 

THE FIRST VISIT

• Victory Health will do a psychiatric assessment and present you with treatment options.

• We will discuss whether you wish to initiate care with us or see someone else. We will also let you know if your needs fall within - or exceed - the scope of our practice. We may also suggest a referral accordingly.

• If you wish to continue care at Victory Health, We may ask for past treatment records.

• Please note that we do not accept bookings for adults made on behalf of a family member or other third parties since mental health information is confidential. The sole exception is when parents make bookings for minors for the specific purpose of a DOE evaluation.

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PAYMENT

• All payment is due at the time of the appointment either with Card Insurance, Cash or check. Current Fees are below for cash pay patients only, but subject to change at any time

-Initial Psych Eval-$250 (60mins) per session

-Subsequent Follow up Medication Management/Psychotherapy -$90 (30mins) per session

 

• Victory Health will issue a receipt for all private pay appointments. The responsibility for reimbursement from your insurance company lies with you, and I will provide any supporting documentation as long as we agree that it does not break your confidentiality.

• If your check cannot be processed, we will ask you to make payments for the last and next appointments prior to scheduling for future appointments.

 

APPOINTMENTS

• The expectation of booking appointments is that you will fill out all intake paperwork along with signing all consents. You can book appointments directly via Home | Victory Health Solutions. We do not hold appointments outside our business hours and do not have drop-in visits unless there is a true emergency (you want to hurt yourself or feel unstable).

• Victory health providers/practice manager will reschedule your follow up appointments after an initial visit

• Only the practice manager can make alterations to all other appointments in Kareo, to avoid duplicates.

• You will be charged a no-show fee if you do not attend a scheduled appointment. (This may vary case by case e.g. self-pay clients).

• You will not be charged for cancelling your appointments.

• We will waive the no show fee only for personal or family medical crises. We please ask that you cancel your appointments 24-48hours prior. ​

• Victory health providers will give you the option to

• All appointments will be conducted via telephone and/or teleconference via Kareo EMR.

• EMR will send appointment telehealth links prior to the date. If you do not receive this link, please request this from Victory directly.

• Please call the main Victory health line for any refill requests.

• Providers may triage clients obtained from psychology today

• Insurance information must be verified by the practice manager and the billing team before a client is seen.

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PRESCRIPTIONS

 

• Here at Victory Health, we only prescribe one month of medications for controlled substances and two-three months for non-controlled substances at a given time. If you are stable on medication dosages and live outside of a 50-mile radius from the practice, I will prescribe a maximum of one month for controlled substances and three months for non-controlled substances.

• Every time we prescribe a controlled substance, we are required by law to check New Arizona’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to see if you are receiving controlled substances from other prescribers. This is for your safety since we are in a prescription drug epidemic. 

• We will not prescribe controlled substances if: (1) you receive a prescription for a controlled substance without informing our practice, (2) if you give away or sell your medication, (3) if you use your medication in a way that is not how it was prescribed, (4) if you repeatedly lose your medication.

• We will not replace lost or stolen prescriptions. Please treat them like cash and store them in a safe space. This is especially true for controlled substances where we cannot write another prescription for the same 30-day period. Please file a report with your pharmacy and the police if your prescriptions are lost or stolen as many medications have high street value when sold illicitly. 

• We do not refill medications without an in-person appointment. We adhere strictly to professional guidelines on checking each prescription's therapeutic and side effects. We will use this time to also discuss whether your medication is on formulary for your insurance company (if relevant) and what alternatives could be covered, if not. If you are worried about not finding an appointment when your prescription is up, please book in advance. Our preference is to book your next visit during the current session. This will help avoid any possibly dangerous side effects of withdrawal. ​Prescribing by phone or email may seem convenient, but it is not standard of care.

• Your pharmacy may reach out to me for a refill. I will then contact you to see when you can come in, as seeking medication refills are your responsibility. Neither the pharmacy or I know how much stock you have. We may prescribe a maximum of 7-30 days for a controlled substance and 10-30 days for an uncontrolled substance to bridge you until a next visit. If patients do not honor follow ups within a period of 2 months in a row, then we won't prescribe any longer. ​

 

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN VISITS

• We are available at (623)-304-6079 at all times. We check voice mail messages regularly and will call you within one business day for non-urgent matters.

• We use email only for administrative matters such as scheduling and forwarding receipts. The email is HIPAA complaint. Emails become a part of your medical record. 

• We may not text with patients as it is not confidential. However, our EMR system allows for confidential text messaging.

• Please do not use email or text for clinical matters such as crises, persistent symptoms, or side effects. Please call us. We will return your message as soon as possible. 

• We will leave information about how to access services and who is covering the practice if we are out of town. Please note that covering physicians may perform psychotherapy and medication management, filling prescriptions in the place of another provider.

 

WHEN TREATMENT COMES TO A CLOSE

• In most cases, we will end treatment once your treatment goals are met.

• In rare cases, you and Victory Health may have different expectations of each other. We may initiate a discussion on termination if: (1) your needs require a higher or different level of care than what We can provide in my scope of practice, (2) you miss two consecutive payments, (3) you miss two consecutive appointments, (4) you do not return our emails or phone calls or (5) you knowingly violate my practice policies. We will then initiate a conversation about transitioning your care. Ending a relationship can be uncomfortable but need not be conflictual.

• We will provide you with (1) a list of referral resources (Psychology Today, or call your insurance provider for referrals), (2) availability for any urgent matters for as long as your prescription lasts, but will also refer you to your local emergency room or call 911 as well, (3) 30 days’ worth of prescriptions unless you have already received prescriptions beforehand and not come in for a follow-up appointment - We will officially no longer be your provider after this 21 or 30 day period.

• We will assume that you have implicitly decided to end our patient-physician relationship if you do not make an appointment to follow up within three months of our last appointment. We can then discuss whether to reestablish a patient-physician relationship if you wish to make a new appointment after this three-month period.

 

MEDICAL CONFIDENTIALITY

• ​Our relationship is only with you. It is not with your spouse, significant other, family members, close friends, other medical providers, attorneys, or insurance companies. Your safety and confidentiality are my priorities.

• We will always protect your medical confidentiality unless you are at imminent risk of harming yourself, harming someone else, or unable to care for yourself. We will then call your emergency contact person provided during the first visit.

• On our end, only we have access to your medical chart and invoices.

• We will release your medical records to a third party only after you email me this form or sign our electronic consent: 

****Victory Health Medical Release form****

 

• We will not complete any documentation for a third-party such as an insurance company or disability administration outside of appointments. This is to avoid disclosing any medical information inadvertently. We will complete this information only during the session when you will review the completed documents to protect your confidentiality.

• Similarly, We can complete standardized prior authorization forms sent to me through my prescription software without an appointment. However, we will only speak to the insurance company by phone for prior authorization with your consent in order to protect confidentiality.

 

COURT POLICY

• Victory Health does not participate in person, by phone, or in writing in any court related matter that any of my patients may be a party to or become a party to in any way. 

• At no time will we offer an opinion or recommendation in any court matter, especially as it relates to custody or worker's compensation. We may consider disability or ADULT ADHD on a case by case basis. We do not participate in research or forensic psychiatry.

• Should we be requested to write a treatment summary, we will not be stipulating in writing or in person as to an opinion. We will only provide clinical observations and feedback. At no time will Victory Health make a recommendation in regard to any other court related matter.

If a court order is served and is requesting that we be present in person and/or there is a request for records, patient consent will be requested before turning over confidential information. When obtaining this consent, the patient will be told exactly what has been requested by court and there is no guarantee that the information will be kept confidential. This includes a patient's mental health history; current status