The Good Faith Estimate
Since the No Surprises Act has been passed, you may have noticed more discussions around the Good Faith Estimate. A Good Faith Estimate is designed to give clients and patients a layout of their costs from the start of services until their conclusion. This estimate is now required to be made available by all healthcare providers in the United States. The act was made to protect both the insured and uninsured from unknown fees, charges, and surprise medical bills, especially from out-of-network providers. Surprise medical bills are defined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as bills that charge patients the difference between what was originally charged and what was paid by insurance, also known as “balance billing”.
So, how does this translate to the mental health realm? The Good Faith Estimate applies to clients intending to not use their insurance or they are uninsured (essentially, all private pay clients). At our practice, we will include our estimates within the intake paperwork and will list out services, services fees, and any other additional charges associated with your care. You should receive this information from us at least 3 business days before your scheduled intake appointment. Our goal is to maintain transparency to aid in easing the process of establishing care with a provider you can trust. If you have any more questions, you can reach out to us via phone or our “Contact Us” form. Or, if just want to know more about the No Surprises act, the sources I synthesized the information from are listed below: