Patient Information

Mankato Psychology Clinic is open from 8 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Fridays.  Later evening appointments may be scheduled per clinician discretion. If you have an emergency during clinic hours, call and identify yourself, your clinician’s name, and the urgent nature of your call. Your clinician, or another clinician, will return your call as soon as possible. If you feel an immediate need for assistance, or that you cannot wait for a return call, call 911 or go to the nearest Hospital Emergency Department. If you have an emergency after clinic hours call 911 or go to the nearest Hospital Emergency Department.

To schedule an appointment call 507-387-1350.  Patients have the responsibility to be on time for appointments. If an appointment cannot be kept, whenever possible, please notify us 24 hours in advance. A missed or late canceled appointment may result in being charged a fee.

It is the patient’s right and responsibility to participate in treatment. This includes providing feedback to your clinician regarding your progress and the effectiveness of your treatment plan. It is also the patients responsibility to follow through with the treatment assignments given by the treating clinician. Although you may terminate your therapy whenever you wish, it is important that your discuss your decision with your clinician.

Minnesota law limits a minor’s confidentiality with respect to his/her communications with a psychologist or therapist. While parents have a legal right to information regarding such communications, the clinician may ask parents to respect their minor child’s confidentiality. Even if a parent agrees to this request, he or she can still decide to exercise the right to receive this information.

Please inform our office staff of any changes in your address, telephone number, or insurance coverage. You will be asked to present your insurance card at each visit.

Mankato Psychology Clinic is committed to maintaining the security, privacy and confidentiality of patients’ health information. The federal government requires that we provide you with notification of our policies and practices to protect the privacy of your health information. A copy of these polices and practices will be given to you when you arrive for your first appointment.  In situations where both federal and state laws apply, we will adhere to the law that offers you the greatest level of protection.

The service fees are established for each 53-minute clinical service unit. Most sessions in our office are 53 minutes to one hour.

For the initial intake, it is $300 (With a Masters Level Therapist) or $320 (With a Ph.D. Level Therapist); for each session after, the fee is $250 (With a Masters Level Therapist) or $270 (With a Ph.D. Level Therapist). Charges are billed directly to your insurance company through MPC. You will be billed for your remaining account balance at the end of EACH MONTH. It is YOUR responsibility to know and understand what your coverage is. Every insurance plan is different. Some may have a Co-Pay, and some have a deductible.

It is up to the clinician's discretion to charge a No Show fee of $50 or a Late Cancel fee of $35. Your responsibility is to pay this, as it will not be billed to insurance.

Any returned check is subject to an additional fee of $30.00. If you refuse to pay your debt, Mankato Psychology Clinic PLC, reserves the right to use an attorney or collection agency to secure payment.

Before scheduling any appointment, we need to know what payment source you will use to cover your treatment. Suppose you have a health insurance policy that covers mental health. In that case, you need to provide us with your information and allow us to make a copy of the insurance card and your ID to confirm that the insurance covers our treatment, and we are considered an in-network provider. You need to inform us if/when your coverage changes.

Insurance benefits have increasingly become more complex. Sometimes, it is difficult to determine how much mental health coverage is available. Managed Health Care plans such as HMOs and PPOs often require advance authorization, without which they may refuse to reimburse mental health services. These plans are usually limited to short-term treatment approaches designed to work out specific problems that interfere with a person's usual level of functioning. It may be necessary to seek approval for more therapy after a certain number of sessions. While much can be accomplished in short-term therapy, some patients need more services after insurance benefits end. Some managed-care plans will not allow the provided services to you once your benefits end. If this is the case, your provider will do their best to find another provider to help you continue your psychotherapy.

You need to know that most insurance companies require you to authorize us to provide them with a clinical diagnosis. Diagnoses are technical terms describing the nature of your difficulties and whether they are short or long. All diagnoses come from a book entitled the DSM-V-TR. Each provider has a copy of this within their office if you want to know more about your diagnosis.

Sometimes, we must provide additional clinical information such as treatment plans or summaries or in rare cases, copies of the entire record. This information will become part of the insurance company files and will probably be stored in a data storage facility.

All insurance companies claim they keep such information confidential; We have no control over what they do with it once it is in their hands. Sometimes, they may share the information with a national medical information databank. If you request it, I will provide you with a copy of any report I submit.

In addition, if you plan to use your insurance, authorization from the insurance company may be required before they will cover therapy fees. If you did not obtain approval, and it is necessary, you may be responsible for fully paying the cost.

Many policies leave a percentage of the co-insurance fee or a flat dollar amount called a co-payment to be covered by the patient. Either amount will be paid by check, cash, credit card, or FSA card at the visit. Some insurance companies also have a deductible, which is an out-of-pocket amount that the patient must pay before the insurance companies are willing to begin paying any amount for services. This will typically mean that you will be responsible for paying for initial sessions until your deductible has been met; the deductible amount may also need to be met at the start of each calendar year.

Once we have all the information about your insurance coverage, we will discuss what we can reasonably expect to accomplish with the available benefits and what will happen if coverage ends before you feel ready to end your sessions. It is important to remember that you always have the right to pay for the services yourself to avoid the problems described above unless prohibited by the provider contract.

Suppose we are not a participating provider for your insurance plan. In that case, we will supply you with a receipt for payment for services, which you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. Please note that not all insurance companies reimburse for out-of-network providers. We will refer you to a colleague if you prefer to use a participating provider.

This practice serves all patients regardless of ability to pay. Discounts for essential services are offered based on family size and income. For more information, ask at the front desk or visit our website. Thank you.