Frequently Asked Questions

As a psychiatrist with extensive training in psychotherapy, I believe that psychotherapy is essential for gaining a deeper understanding of ourselves. 

I offer a combination of medication management and psychotherapy, and I require my patients to actively participate in psychotherapy while receiving medication management, whether with me or another provider.

Absolutely. If you already have a therapist, I would be happy to work collaboratively with them while you see me for medication management.

A primary care provider collaborates with all consulting physicians, including psychiatrists, to monitor and treat any treatable and preventable conditions. As part of your overall wellness, I require you to establish care with a primary care physician.

I offer both in-person visits in a beautifully decorated office in San Francisco and virtual appointments.

For virtual visits, per California telemedicine regulations, patients must be located within the state of California at the time of the appointment. Please note that in some cases, you may need to see me in person at least once, especially if you are on certain medications.

The first consultation is a get-to-know-you visit and can be scheduled for 60-90 minutes, depending on your needs. In this session, we will review your current conditions and past history. Getting to know my patients on a personal level is a top priority before prescribing medication. I believe in treating the person, not just the diagnosis, so it may take more than one visit to develop a comprehensive, individualized treatment plan.

To provide the highest quality patient-centered care, I do not work directly with insurance. I am considered an out-of-network provider, which means I can provide you with a superbill that you can submit to your insurance for reimbursement. I go over this in detail in Practice Vision.

A new federal law that went into effect 1/1/2022 called the “No Surprises Act” requires us to provide you with a “good faith estimate” of the TOTAL COST of your treatment for an entire calendar year. 

Estimating the total cost of psychiatric and psychotherapy treatment is very difficult because the course of treatment varies for everyone. The law requires us to make this estimate even prior to completing an initial assessment which further complicates things. 

You have a right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost. 

Under the law, healthcare providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items and services. The purpose of this document is to let you know about your protection from unexpected medical bills. It also asks whether you would like to give up those protections and pay more for out-of-network care. If you plan to use your out-of-network benefits, this does not apply to you. 

You and your clinicians will determine the frequency of appointments together based on your needs. This may vary depending on whether you receive services for medication management, therapy, or both. 

Questions about your rights? 

Call this federal phone number for information and complaints: 1-800-985-3059. 

You may also visit: www.cms.gov./nosurprises