Fees
Initial evaluation or one time consultation: $250 (about 60 minutes)
Regular therapy session: $180 (55 minutes) ; $160 (45 min); $105 (30 min.)
Other services:
- In addition to psychotherapy, I charge the same fee for any other professional services you might need (on a prorated bases in 10 min. increments), such as reports or letter writing, preparation of records or treatment summaries, telephone conversations lasting longer than 10 minutes, or text/email responses taking longer than 10 minutes.
- If you become involved in a litigation that may require my participation, you will be expected to pay for the professional time required even if I am compelled to testify by another party. Because of the complexity and difficulty of the legal involvement , I charge $250 per hour for preparation for attendance and attendance at a legal proceeding. I charge a minimum fee of 4 hours when I am asked to testify in court as an expert witness (because court appearances require me to cancel at least a half of my work day.)
Payments
All payments are due at the time of service unless another arrangement has been agreed upon in advance.
You can pay by cash, check, or credit card (Visa or MasterCard.)
I reserve the right to terminate therapy if you owe me fees for two sessions and fail to make a reasonable payment arrangement. If such situation arises, I may choose to collect via a collection agency or small claims court. If such legal actions becomes necessary, the costs of bringing that proceeding will be included in the claim.
Insurance
Please be aware that in order for an insurance company to approve and issue payments for psychotherapy, you as a patient must be assigned a valid psychiatric diagnosis. In addition, I am required to provide an insurance company with specific information about your visits. This information is usually limited to a date/time of service and a procedure code but may include (upon request from your insurance company) more personal details, such as presenting complaints, ongoing issues, methods of treatment, progress, etc. This information will become part of your insurance company files and may be used by your insurance company for other purposes, e.g., for life insurance or disability eligibility determination. I have no control/responsibility over your information once it is passed on to your insurance. Thus by choosing to use insurance to pay for your psychotherapy you give your consent to share clinical information with your insurance.
I am a participating provider with Highmark (includes many but not all BlueCross BlueShield plans) and Capital BlueCross.
It is your responsibility, prior to beginning of therapy, to check with your insurance company whether I am considered an in-network provider for your particular plan. You can do so by calling Behavioral Health number on the back of your insurance card. When calling your insurance to verify benefits, you should ask the following questions:
- Is Dr. Alla Budur considered an in-network provider for my insurance plan?
- Does my insurance cover outpatient psychotherapy?
- Do I have a copay/coinsurance per session, and how much?
- Is my deductible met for the year, and if not – what is the amount left?
If I am in network with your insurance, and your deductible has been met, you are only responsible for the copay/coinsurance amount per each session. If your deductible has not been met, you will be responsible for the full cost of the session until you meet your deductible.
If I am not a participating provider for your insurance, you can check with your insurance company whether you have out-of-network coverage for treatment. You can ask the following questions:
- Do I have out-of-network (non-participating provider) coverage for outpatient psychotherapy?
- If yes, how much will I be reimbursed, and do I have a separate deductible for out-of-network services?
In this case, you pay me directly, and I will provide you with the statement of services containing all the information necessary to submit a claim to your insurance.