About our Practice
Welcome
We appreciate the support and confidence you, and those who referred you, have shown by selecting this practice.On this page, we'll try to answer some commonly asked questions, as well as review our specific policies and procedures. Your doctor and I welcome your feedback. Before we begin working with you, we'll ask you to sign a form indicating you will abide by these policies and procedures.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments via the form below.
Sincerely,
Michael B. Spellman, Ph.D.
About Us
The Center for Psychology and Neuropsychiatry is loacted in South Fort Myers. We offer a variety of psychotherapy and testing services. We see patients, by appointment only, Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Click here for profiles of our professional staff.
What to Expect
Psychotherapy can have benefits and risks. Since therapy often involves discussing unpleasant aspects of your life, you may experience uncomfortable feelings. On the other hand, psychotherapy has also been shown to have many benefits. Therapy often leads to better relationships, solutions to specific problems, and significant reductions in feelings of distress, but there are no guarantees of what you will experience.
In your first session your therapist will offer you some sense of what therapy will entail and how she or he will work with you to address your concerns. You should evaluate this information and whether you feel comfortable working with your therapist. If you have questions about our procedures, you should discuss them with your therapist whenever they arise. You have the right to ask for the rationale for any aspect of your treatment or to decline any part of your treatment. You can request another therapist. While we encourage you to discuss your concerns with your current therapist to explore why things may not be working out, you are under no obligation to do so.
Fees
Unless otherwise agreed in advance, all fees are due at the time of service. Most of the services we provide are billed on an hourly basis. Please feel free to inquire about charges in advance. We do accept payment from a variety of medical insurance companies. Please click here for more information on insurance coverage.
Our efforts to work with your insurance company do not alter your responsibility for fees. We accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover for diagnostic procedures and fee-for-service procedures only.
Appointment changes
Please notify us at least two business days in advance if you must cancel or change your appointment time. Otherwise you may be charged a $100 fee for missed appointments or late cancellations. Unless you explicitly request in writing that we do otherwise, we will, from time to time, remind you of your scheduled appointments via e-mail, telephone, and/or voicemail.
Confidentiality
All communications between you and your clinician are confidential. The law does, however, specify some exceptions, including interventions when you are in danger, a danger to others, your health is declining, or upon the order of a judge or the Secretary of HHS.
In the interest of quality of care, we will send a summary and recommendations to any professional who has referred you unless you write to us to revoke this permission. If we bill your insurance in your behalf, you agree that we may release any and all information requested by your insurance company. If you write checks or use credit cards protected health information will be released.
Otherwise, no information will be released without your additional written consent. By accepting services at this office you are agreeing also to grant your doctor the privilege of confidentiality. Click here for a look at the federal law designed to protect patients' privacy.
Quality of care
It is important that you receive the highest quality of care. Toward this end, it is essential that you and your doctor communicate openly and freely about the services you are receiving. Please do not hesitate to share your concerns, as well as your successes, with your clinician.
Legal Expert Services
Please notify us in advance if you ever plan to seek any legal expert or other forensic service in this office. Our fees for forensic services are $300/hour with a four hour minimum per day. Health insurance does not cover forensic fees. To avoid ethical dilemmas and to ensure a clear focus on your clinical needs, you agree not to involve your record, this office, or any of our employees, in any legal issues in which you are a party.
If you are specifically seeking consultation in order to obtain such services, please speak to your doctor.
Co-payments for testing
Most insurance policies call for one co-pay per office visit. Since test procedures involve multiple units of service, this causes a problem which insurance companies have consistently refused to address. The problem is, either the patient has to make many trips to the office in order to complete the entire test battery, or the doctor has to write-off the costs of that portion of the fee.
If you would prefer, we will stretch your testing procedure (if any) across multiple visits. Alternatively, you can save yourself the trips and pay all of the copays in the same day at no additional cost to you. For example, if your copay is $10.00 and you will be taking six units of testing, you would pay $60.00 just as you would if you choose to return six times. Unless you specifically ask us to do otherwise, we will schedule your testing in the fewest possible visits.
Click here to arrange for an initial appointment.