Office Policies

We would like to thank you for choosing Alternative Psychiatry as your mental health provider. Alternative Psychiatry is dedicated to providing you with the highest quality, cost effective mental health care. As one of our patients, we would like to keep you informed of our current office and financial policies. Please read the following office policies to ensure your best experience. 

Prescription Renewal / Refill Policy

Prescriptions are sent electronically directly to your pharmacy at the time of your appointment with sufficient quantities and refills, if necessary, to last you until your next appointment. If, by chance, you run out of medication before your next appointment, please email your request to our office

We WILL NOT refill your medications if you have not seen your clinician for more than 90 days. We will request that you schedule an appointment at least once every three months in order to continue receiving prescriptions for your psychiatric medications. Online controlled substance medications require the patient to visit with their provider monthy, per Florida law.

Refill requests called or emailed in after 3:00 PM may not be sent to the pharmacy until the following business day.

Patients who are prescribed Controlled Schedule II, III, IV, and V, medications are asked to use the same pharmacy each time for refills.

Patients who are prescribed Controlled Schedule II, III, IV, and V, medications are required to sign a Controlled Substance Contract with Alternative Psychiatry.

Controlled Substance prescriptions will only be prescribed a 30-day supply. We DO NOT send 90-day/3-month supplies for Controlled Substance Medications to either local or mail-order pharmacies.

Payments

It is the policy of Alternative Psychiatry that payment is due at the time services are rendered.

Cancellations

When you need to cancel or rebook a scheduled visit, we expect you to contact our office no later than 24 hours before the scheduled visit. This allows us a reasonable amount of time to determine the most appropriate way to reschedule your care as well as giving us the opportunity to rebook the now vacant appointment slot with another patient.

Patient “no-shows” and appointments cancelled within 24 hours of the scheduled start time will be billed a fee of $100 for a missed initial evaluation and $50 for a missed medication management follow-up visit. Note that insurance companies cannot be legally billed for a no-show or cancellation where you did not attend any part of the session. You will be financially responsible for the full cost of fees incurred by appointments not cancelled or rescheduled with appropriate advance notice. Payment will be expected on or before your next scheduled appointment.  

Forms, Letters, Telephone Calls, & Emails

Patients will be billed for a provider’s time spent filling out forms and dictation of letters. We bill in 15 minute increments for such paperwork for $25.00 per 15 minutes, rounded-up; minimum charge is $25.00 per form, document or letter.

We allow up to three telephone calls per month between you and your provider. We will bill for excessive telephone calls above this limit at the same 15-minute rate.

It is often difficult for our staff to immediately respond to telephone calls. If your situation is urgent, please notify our Practice Manager at the time of your call and we will do our best to facilitate a timely response.

We DO NOT do Workers Comp Evaluations of any kind.

We DO NOT do Disability Evaluations of any kind.

Termination of Care

Either party can terminate the provider/patient relationship for any reason s/he deems appropriate. Reasons that could lead to termination of care include, but are not limited to:​

• Providing misleading or untruthful information

• Not following the agreed treatment plan

• Using medication outside of the prescribed directions resulting in requests for early refills

• Excessive, unwarranted telephone calls and/or emails

• Failure to keep scheduled appointments

• Failure to comply with financial policies

• Aggressive, abusive or inappropriate behavior

• Breech of the controlled substance contract

Emergencies

If you are actively suicidal, then Alternative Psychiatry is NOT the place to start. You need immediate and intensive care from a local provider who can monitor you closely. For that reason, IF YOU FEEL SUICIDAL, OR ARE EXPERIENCING ANY OTHER KIND OF MEDICAL EMERGENCY, THEN PLEASE CALL 9-1-1 OR GO TO YOU NEAREST EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT FOR IMMEDIATE EVALUATION AND TREATMENT. Alternative Psychiatry is not setup for walk-in emergencies.

If you feel that you have a high priority issue and need to speak to your treating provider, please call during office hours and talk directly with one of our staff. Do NOT leave emergency messages on the office voice mail, as these messages may not be answered until the end of the workday or next business day.