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Practice Policies
For your informed decisions of your care.
This Website is Not Therapy
For full Terms & Conditions for use of this website, please visit our legal page.
This website is not intended as a therapeutic service and use of the website does not constitute a contract between you (the Reader) and Seeds of Sage Counseling PLLC or any of its operating clinicians.
If you are in need of emergency services, please dial 911, 988, or your local crisis line.
Why Private Pay?
Seeds of Sage Counseling does not accept insurance because of the limitations established by insurance companies, some of which are oulined below:
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A diagnosis must be established in the intake session.
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Insurance companies allot one hour to establish this diagnosis.
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If you do not meet criteria for a diagnosis, your treatment will not be covered.
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Some insurance companies only cover 6-12 sessions for specific diagnoses.
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Private pay allows the providers with Seeds of Sage to take their time in an assessment of your symptoms and develop an intentional and highly personalized treatment plan, with or without a diagnosable condition.
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Coverage for sessions by insurance is limited to +53 minuets.
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When sessions go over +53 minuets and insurance does not cover, the provider does not get paid for their additional time.
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90 minuets is the recommended session time for EMDR sessions to allow adequate time to follow up from the previous week, engage in reprocessing, and leave time to return to baseline.
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Not contracting with insurance gives you and your provider flexibility with scheduling and allows healing to take place on your time.
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Insurance companies do not contract with associates.
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Skye Walden, the founder of Seeds of Sage Counseling, is an LMHCA in WA State. Insurance companies do not currently contract with LMHCAs
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HSAs, FSAs, and Superbills.
What is “out of network”?
This simply means that I am not contracted with insurance companies. Your insurance carrier will not directly cover the services you receive from Seeds of Sage Counseling. You will pay for the services yourself out of pocket or by using an HSA or FSA at the time of service. It is recommended that you check with your insurance carrier about the potential for reimbursement for out of network providers (like myself) to see if they offer no, partial or full reimbursement upon receiving a superbill from an out of network provider. You can also use services like Mentaya or Thrizer for support navigating the reimbursement process.
What is a superbill?
A superbill is a detailed reciept from services that you have already paid for. It will include all of you provider’s important information for the insurance company, It will also include your diagnosis, session dates, and the rate that you paid. You submit this to your HSA, FSA, or Insurance company to obtain potential reimbursement for the services you paid for out of pocket. Check directly with your insurance carrier about their policies reguarding out of network providers.
Using HSAs and FSAs
Health Savings Accounts or HSAs and Flexible Spending Accounts or FSAs are tax-advantaged savings accounts specifically for healthcare costs. You can use your HSA or FSA to pay for your counseling with Seeds of Sage Counseling by entering your HSA or FSA card information directly in the billing section of your client portal to cover services. You can also submit a superbill to your HSA or FSA detailing what you have paid for your care out of pocket to get reimbursed out of your savings accounts.
Good Faith Estimates (GFEs)
A good faith estimate, or GFE, provides you an estimate as a private pay client with a written breakdown of the services you are receiving from Seeds of Sage Counseling and the expected costs. I provide an estimate for a year of uninterrupted services. This document protects you from unexpected charges. More details about GFEs are below!
Under the No Surprises Act (effective 1/1/2022), you are entitled to receive a Good Faith Estimate detailing the costs of items and services that are reasonably expected for any non-emergency healthcare needs, including counseling services.
The estimate is based on information known at the time of creation, and does not include any unknown or unexpected costs that may arise during treatment. Seeds of Sage Counseling PLLC will provide this estimate prior to the first appointment once all required consent paperwork is completed.
If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill. Make sure to save a copy of your Good Faith Estimate. For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate or the dispute process, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call (800) 985-3059.