KEY POLICIES
See below for key policies that we feel allow for a better understanding of how Better Stories works with people, and how to best achieve your recovery from any mental health struggles:
1. For completion of any short term disability paperwork, FMLA paperwork, school accomodations, or other forms patients need to have been seen for at least 90 days, not at the initial visit. All paperwork will completed at an office visit, and require an office visit for completion. We do not perform consultations or court mandated assessments.
2. For your optimized recovery and best quality of life, we require that you are actively engaged in longitudinal psychotherapy with a psychotherapist when you are being treated at Better Stories. There are many struggles that are better suited to psychotherapy treatment rather than medication, and many more that are best treated wih medication and psychotherapy in combination.
3. For any stimulant medication (e.g. ritalin, adderall, vyvanse, concerta) we require a neuropsychological report reflecting an ADD/ADHD diagnosis. If you do not have such a report, please see our list of local clinical psychologists that perform neuropsychological testing to evaluate for these diagnoses and whom we have collaborated with in the past. Better Stories will not be prescribing stimulant medication until an ADD/ADHD diagnosis is confirmed by neuropsychological testing. Better Stories does not perform neuropsychological testing in our practice. Neuropsychological testing for Better Stories is defined as a testing report performed by a child and adolescent psychiatrist or doctoral level clinical psychologist consisting of 4-12 hours of scales testing resulting in a 5-20 page report. It is not an independent medical evaluation or initial psychiatric evaluation or consultative evaluation by a nurse practitioner, psychotherapist, or general adult psychiatrist.
4. Continuity of care is important to Better Stories, we do not allow patients to switch providers within the practice. If you or your provider feel the working relationship is not a good fit, we will provide you with a list of other providers in the local Pittsburgh area to seek care.
5. We serve the greater southwest Pennsylvania area. If you live more than 60 miles away from Pittsburgh we are not able to manage your care.
The first several visits are about therapeutic fit. If you or your provider feel the working relationship is not a good fit, we will provide you with a list of other providers in the local Pittsburgh area to seek care.
6. We strive to support and validate our patients, including calling people by their preferred name, as well as using their preferred pronouns. We add this to your electronic chart and try our best to be mindful to address you as you would like to be addressed. There are certain instances such as our telehealth text links and video interaction, your legal name in your electronic chart, where due to the telehealth and digital platform used, we need to use your legal name and are not able to use your preferred name. If this is too painful or triggering an experience, we recommend that perhaps we are not a good fit as we do not want to contribute to anyone's suffering or mental health struggles.
7. With the COVID19 pandemic we have added telehealth technology to see patients, and you consent for the engagement of telehealth services, HIPAA secure SMS technology, and reminders (email, secure SMS text, and phone), and our EHR patient portal Patient Fusion, all of which are HIPAA compliant to protect your privacy and ease in your treatment.
8. If payment is 60 days past due, we reserve the right to utilize legal resources such as collection agencies or small claims court in order to obtain payment for my services. If your current balance is more than $200 or more than one year old you will not be scheduled for a follow-up visit and no further medication prescriptions will be provided until your balance is paid in full.