Frequently Asked Questions

1 / What if I have an emergency?

Psychiatric emergencies are:
~ Suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming others
~ An unexpected medication reaction with serious symptoms
~ Any unusual behavior that you fear may lead to physical harm.
In the case of any medical or psychiatric emergency,
- Call 911
- Go to the nearest emergency room

2 / Do you accept insurance?

North Star Psychiatry is not contracted with any insurance or Medicare. Insurance companies' contractual requirements are often too limiting for Integrative Medicine to provide the quality of care needed to optimize your health and recovery. By remaining outside of managed care, it's possible to schedule longer or more frequent visits in order to explore symptoms in detail. It affords you additional time to be understood fully as well as ask any additional questions you may have. It allows your care to be collaborative between you and your psychiatrist instead of dictated by a third party. Of note, some insurance companies may still reimburse some of the cost of services provided. If desired, what's called a "superbill" can be provided after your appointments that you can to submit to your insurance for that purpose.

3 / Do you prescribe controlled medications?

As all of our appointments are via tele-health and do not include in personal physical examinations, no prescriptions for any Schedule II controlled substances are written.

4 / Why we charge for missed appointments:

We book limited appointments that are reserved in advance for you. We do not overbook and missed appointments mean a loss to the practice and possibly to other patients who might have utilized that appointment time. Missed appointments will be charged to the card we have on file. We require 24 business hours advance notice of cancellation for all appointments to allow us to offer that time to someone else. If you need to cancel within 24 hours and we are still able to fill that appointment time, you will not be charged.

5 / Do you do any in-person appointments?

At this time, all appointments are done via a HIPAA compliant tele-healthcare platform. There are no current in-person appointments available but will update this page if that changes!

6 / Are communications confidential?

Any appointments are done over a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform. All information discussed during appointments is considered confidential except in circumstances where I am duty and legally bound to disclose information. These situations include serious and imminent threat of harm to one's self or others, suspected child or elder abuse, grave disability, or under a court or legal mandate. In the case that someone else is paying for your care, they will not have access to your records without your explicit written consent.