Telepsychiatry
Office Policies
Initial Appointments
Please call our office in order to set up an initial evaluation. Prior to the initial evaluation, please fill out a new patient packet found on our patient resources page. We ask that you please return the completed forms at least two days prior to the time of your initial evaluation. Please note that if you have booked a new patient appointment, the physician has blocked out a significant amount of time for the evaluation. If you need to cancel the appointment, please contact the office as soon as possible so that time can be made available for other patients.
Telepsychiatry (Video Conference) Appointments
Currently, Dr. Lipsig only offers telepsychiatry (video conference) appointments to new and existing patients over a secure network. For further information, refer to the Telepsychiatry Consent Form and Guidelines.
Office Hours
Office hours are Monday through Friday by appointment only. All first appointments are considered a consultation only. Dr. Lipsig will let you know if he is in the position to offer treatment services beyond the first appointment.
Payment/Insurance Information
Fees are due at the time services are rendered. Our office does not contract with any insurance companies. However, if your insurance company provides out-of-network benefits, you may file your own claims for reimbursement. These claims should be paid directly to you. At the end of each appointment, if requested, you will receive a statement that contains the necessary documentation to file with your insurance company. Please let our office know if you would like to receive this statement. We recommend that you contact your insurance company for specific information about your out-of-network coverage for mental health services.
In addition, Dr. Lipsig has opted out of Medicare. If you have Medicare, you can be seen on a Private Contract basis, in which no Medicare claims are made. Please download and complete the Medicare Contract below. We do not accept Medicaid.
We accept credit and debit cards as a convenience.
For current fee schedules, please call our office.
Appointment Changes/Cancellations
Patients will be charged the full session rate when cancellations occur unless notice is given at least one business day in advance. If, for any reason, the doctor must cancel an appointment, the patient will be advised at the earliest possible time.
Electronic Mail (Email) Policy
By agreeing to communicate via email, you are assuming a certain degree of risk of breach of privacy beyond that inherent in other modes of traditional communication (such as telephone, written, or face-to-face). We cannot insure the confidentiality of our electronic communications against purposeful or accidental network interception. Due to this inherent vulnerability, we would caution you against emailing anything of a very private nature. Additionally, the doctor will save your email correspondence and these communications should be considered part of your medical record; therefore, you should consider that our electronic communications may not be confidential and will be included in your medical chart. Never send emails of an urgent or emergent nature. The doctor will make an effort to check email regularly; however, call our office if you have not received a reply within 72 hours.
Telephone Policy
Routine brief phone calls made between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays will be returned as quickly as possible; calls will typically be returned the same day. Routine calls received after 4:30 p.m. or on weekends will be returned the following business day.
For more extensive phone calls, please schedule a phone appointment with the doctor. There will be a routine charge for these phone calls based on the time spent per call. Please note that most insurance companies will not reimburse for phone consultation fees.
Medication Refill Policy
Medication refills will generally be called in to the pharmacy within one business day after the request is made. When requesting a refill, please provide:
- your date of birth
- name of medication requested
- medication dosage
- pharmacy telephone number and address
Prescriptions may only be called in for current patients who maintain their regularly scheduled appointments. Medication refills will not be called in over the weekend except in emergencies.
Termination Policy
It is the position of this office that the patient and doctor should mutually agree when it is time to terminate the therapeutic alliance. Ideally this time comes when the patient’s treatment goals have been achieved and there is a reasonable expectation that the gains will be maintained. There are, however, circumstances in which there is not mutual agreement, and it is these situations that are addressed below.
Patient Initiated Terminations
Patients are under no obligation to continue services should they decide to terminate at any time. However, we strongly urge that the doctor be notified in person regarding this decision so that it can be discussed openly. At the patient’s request, the doctor shall furnish three referral sources for individuals or agencies that could continue the patient's treatment.
Doctor Initiated Terminations
Although rare, there are times that the doctor would terminate treatment without the patient's consent. Potential reasons where this might occur including the following: the patient refuses to cooperate with treatment; conflict of interest; the patient fails to pay the agreed upon fees or the doctor determines that he is no longer the best psychiatrist to provide treatment.
If the doctor judges that there are reasons to justify termination of treatment (and the patient does not agree), the doctor shall make an effort to discuss the issues with the patient and give the reasons for termination when appropriate. In addition, the doctor will mail the patient a letter explaining the termination of treatment, providing names of at least three psychiatrists and providing availability for emergency care for 30 days from the date of the letter.
Please note that it is Dr. Lipsig's view that successful treatment requires that both the doctor and the patient agree to the treatment plan. An essential part of a successful treatment involves consistency with the agreed upon frequency of the treatment appointments. Dr. Lipsig will discuss the recommended frequency of appointments throughout treatment and, typically, at the end of each appointment. However, if the patient does not follow-up as recommended or decides to not follow up with treatment at all, we ask that the patient inform the office. However, if the patient does not contact the office to let us know the intentions, it can become unclear if the patient has any plans to continue treatment.
If the patient does not follow up with the recommended frequency of treatment appointments, the patient’s status will be changed from “active†to “closed/inactive.†Please note that the closed/inactive status signifies that Dr. Lipsig and the patient have ended their doctor-patient relationship. Therefore, Dr. Lipsig has no clinical responsibility at this point.
Either of the following situations will result in a change to "closed/inactive" status:
- Patient does contact the office or follow-up with Dr. Lipsig within 30 days of the recommended time frame that he told the patient at the end of the appointment, and which is documented in the chart.
- Patient does not contact the office or follow-up with Dr. Lipsig within 4 months from their previous appointment unless a separate written agreement has been made with Dr. Lipsig.
If this should occur, the former patient may request to be "re-established" as an active patient if approved by Dr. Lipsig.
