A major concern is patient confidentiality. A great number of managed care organizations and insurance companies require detailed information on the psychiatric histories of patients as a condition of payment. This often extends to highly personal information on the content and progress of psychotherapy. Such requirements are a serious breach of the traditional private and confidential relationship between patient and therapist. For this reason, I have chosen not to involve myself with any managed care organizations, nor to participate on the panels of various health insurers. As an experienced therapist, I know that safety and confidentiality are vital to the process of psychotherapy, and are critically important to the patients who come to see me for care.

My office is very uncomplicated and designed to allow me to spend the great majority of my time in patient care, rather than on the phone or doing paperwork. Thus it is the normal practice that patients pay for therapy at the start of each session, usually by cash or personal check. I carry no accounts, send out no bills and do no insurance billing, nor am I involved in any way with managed care programs, most of which do not pay for psychotherapy in any case. Patients with insurance are given a properly coded billing receipt which they can submit to their insurer for reimbursement, and I am willing to work with patients in filling out any forms their insurance companies require.