Frequently Asked Questions
What is integrative psychiatry?
Integrative psychiatry is a holistic approach to mental health care that combines conventional psychiatric treatments (like medications and psychotherapy) with complementary therapies (such as nutrition, mindfulness, acupuncture, or herbal medicine). This approach looks at the whole person—mind, body, and lifestyle—to address the root causes of mental health issues. Integrative psychiatrists aim to personalize treatment plans, focusing not just on symptoms but on overall well-being, often incorporating both medical and natural interventions to support mental and physical health.
Why might integrative psychiatric care be a better approach for me than traditional psychiatric care?
A great deal of research has gone into figuring out why some people get sick when others do not and why some people get better when others do not. The result is what we call the “determinants of health.”
As you can see, medical care accounts for ~10%. With conventional psychiatry, you address a fraction of what impacts your health. With integrative psychiatry, you address so much more.
My goal is to target interventions at the root causes so that you can experience significantly more relief. Medications can certainly play a role, but I am not content with limiting your treatment to such a small piece of that doughnut chart!
What additional benefit would having an MD on my care team offer if I’m not sure about psychiatric medication?
As an MD, I have undergone rigorous training (4 years of medical school and 4 years of psychiatric residency training) including rotations in multiple subspecialties of psychiatry and internal medicine, neurology, OB/GYN, emergency medicine, pediatrics, surgery and more. To ensure I had the background knowledge and clinical acumen necessary to safely and competently care for patients, I sat for (and passed) over 41 hours’ worth of board and licensing exams. Most importantly, that training included over 14,000 clinical hours caring for and learning from patients coping with a wide variety of medical and psychiatric conditions.
I want you to be able to make the most informed decisions possible when it comes to your mental health. As an MD, I am able to leverage that extensive training and my understanding of the brain, body, and ability to critically review the literature into personalized, holistic recommendations for your care.
While you may ultimately choose for prescription medication to not be part of your treatment, the insights and considerations an MD can offer are unique to other mental health professionals, and can help both you and other members of your health team better meet your needs.
Are you accepting new patients?
Yes, I am currently accepting new patients 18 years of age and older who live in PA.
When can we meet?
I can see new patients within 1-2 weeks and have evening and weekend availability.
How long are appointments?
You can see details of each type of appointment by reviewing the service list on the homepage.
How do I book an appointment?
I offer online scheduling for a convenient, streamlined process. Click here.
Can you see me in person?
Services are offered remotely, utilizing telepsychiatry through a secure video platform to ensure privacy and convenience. I provide quality online psychiatric care from the comfort, convenience, and privacy of your home, garden, office, car, or any place where you have reliable internet service within Pennsylvania.
Can I see you if I’m not physically in Pennsylvania?
At this time, due to federal and state laws, I can only see patients who are physically in Pennsylvania at the time of the appointment.
How do I prepare for the first appointment?
Complete all paperwork emailed to you and send any recent (last 12 months) laboratory results no later than 24 hours prior to the appointment.
On the day of the appointment, have the bottles of any prescriptions, supplements and vitamins that you take on hand.
Try logging into the virtual waiting room included in the email you received ~10 minutes prior to your appointment time in case the technology gods are not with you that day. I’ll join the session shortly thereafter!
How do we communicate?
For new patients, initial contact is through this website or setting up an account on the patient portal after booking an intake appointment. Once established, we will meet every four to twelve weeks at a frequency that allows you to feel best supported and give ample opportunity to ask questions and explore concerns. For brief, non-urgent matters, you can reach me via messaging located on the patient portal or call the phone number provided in the initial email you received. I will respond within 48 business hours. More complex concerns require an appointment. Phone calls, forms, reports, and other paperwork that require more than 5 minutes to complete outside of our appointment times will be billed at a prorated hourly rate of $500/hr.
Do you provide emergency services?
This practice is currently not available for emergency services and does not have an emergency hotline that is answered after hours. Portal, email, and phone communication is not appropriate for urgent matters.
If you should have a medical emergency, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. If you are in a mental health crisis please call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
What mental health emergency services are available in the community?
You can call 911 or call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
A list of crisis supports categorized by Pennsylvania county can be found here.
How do we communicate?
Communication is primarily during our appointments, which typically occur every four to twelve weeks at a frequency that we mutually agree upon and allows you to feel best supported with ample opportunity to ask questions, explore concerns, and align on a treatment plan.
For brief, non-urgent matters in between appointments, you can reach me via messaging located on the patient portal or by calling the phone number provided in the initial email you received. I will respond within 48 business hours.
More complex concerns require an appointment. Phone calls, forms, reports, and other paperwork that require more than 5 minutes to complete outside of our appointment times will be billed at a prorated hourly rate of $500/hr.
How can I request refills?
For established patients, refill requests should be made during scheduled appointment times. In between appointments, message on the patient portal or call to request refills. Refill requests sent to pharmacies will not be seen by me.
Refills for requests made by patients who haven’t been seen in the last 90 days will be sent in at the next appointment (with every effort made to accommodate an appointment within one week).
My pharmacy said my medication is out of stock. What should I do?
If your pharmacy reports that your medication is out of stock and they don’t know when it will come in, please ask:
- If there are other dosage strengths of your medication in stock (e.g. 30mg or 50mg capsules of Vyvanse if your dose is 40mg)
- If there are other formulations in stock (e.g. liquid fluoxetine if your normal capsules are out of stock)
- If other pharmacies they are affiliated with have it in stock (e.g. a different ACME Sav-On across town)
- Call other pharmacies of different companies to inquire if they have your medication in stock
If you find a different pharmacy, formulation or similar strength available, please send a message or call requesting the refill to be re-sent with the different details. I will send the refill and advise you on any applicable considerations.
What if I need to cancel or reschedule my appointment?
Regular appointments are important for your care. I understand things can come up. Please call the office at least 48 business hours (weekends and holidays excluded) ahead of the scheduled appointment time if you are unable to make it. Missed or canceled appointments will otherwise be charged the full fee. This time is reserved especially for you, so if you cannot make it, it will be offered to someone else on the waitlist and/or with an urgent need.
Do you provide emergency services?
This practice is currently not available for emergency services and does not have an emergency hotline that is answered after hours. Portal, email, and phone communication is not appropriate for urgent matters.
If you should have a medical emergency, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. If you are in a mental health crisis please call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
What mental health emergency services are available in the community?
You can call 911 or call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
A list of crisis supports categorized by Pennsylvania county can be found here.
Do you accept insurance?
Extraordinary Minds Psychiatry is an out-of-network (OON) provider, which means I do not participate with any insurances (including Medicaid and Medicare). This is a “cash pay” practice. I do provide superbills (more details below) for those seeking OON reimbursement from their insurance.
Why don’t you accept insurance?
I pride myself in providing excellent, personalized mental health care that is dictated by your unique needs and not a third party.
Health insurance gets in the way of this by placing restrictions on how long we can meet for, how often we can meet, which diagnoses are “acceptable” and qualify based on their policies, and what we speak about during the appointment.
They can also require psychiatrists to fill out extensive documentation and add on administrative tasks that take away from the time I have available to spend on the things that improve the quality of the care I provide you (face-to-face time during our appointments, collaborating with your other care providers, managing prescriptions, reading scientific literature, and attending conferences).
You can find more information in my blog post on this topic.
Are there any benefits to not going through insurance at all?
Confidentiality: no one will know your personal mental health concerns, diagnoses, etc. aside from you, your psychiatrist, and whomever YOU decide to tell.
Your personal health information: Insurance collects information on your diagnoses, treatment, and details of notes. This information does not belong to you, and while you can request access, it also can be shared in certain circumstances including when applying for certain professional licenses, insurance policies, etc.
Can insurance still pay for my appointment?
While Extraordinary Minds Psychiatry is not in-network with any insurances, your policy may allow for out of network benefits. This means a portion of the fees may be reimbursed to you by your insurance company after you pay in full for your appointment and submit a document generated at the conclusion of our appointment called a “Super Bill” to your insurance.
Many insurance plans offer out-of-network benefits and cover a portion (typically 50-90%) of the cost of the appointment. It is your responsibility to see what they may cover and seek reimbursement. To see what yours may offer, contact your insurance company and ask:
- Does my plan cover out of network providers?
- Am I limited to a certain number of visits per calendar year?
- How much will you reimburse per session for the following codes [choose applicable code(s) below]?
- Initial psychiatric evaluation, second opinion/consult, reproductive consult (99204 + 90833)
- Follow up visit (99214 + 90836)
- ADHD evaluation (99215 + 99417)
- What is the process to submit a claim for reimbursement?
Can you give an example of how out of network reimbursement works?
Shawn sees Dr. Dillinger for a follow-up appointment. After the appointment, she sends him a PDF document called a “superbill” that lists the information his insurance will want to know. He uploads it via his insurances’ website or by utilizing a service like Reimbursify.
His PPO insurance plan covers 70% of “allowable charges” from out of network costs after his deductible is met—he suffered a broken tailbone several months back so his $750 deductible has been met already this plan year.
His plan says the “allowable charges’ (how much they value each service provided at) for the visit codes total $400. This is $15 less than the charge by Dr. Dillinger at $415 session.
He will be reimbursed $280 (70% of the allowable charge) by his insurance company. His net out-of-pocket cost for the $415 appointment would be $135 ($120—30% of the cost—plus the $15 difference between the allowable charges and the cost of the appointment).
If seeing an in-network provider for the same services, his plan might charge a $40 copay, so the difference between his out-of-pocket cost would be $95.
This is purely hypothetical and does not represent the details of your own plan. See the prior question (“Can insurance still pay for my appointment?”) for instructions on how to find out what your own benefits are.
What are your fees?
The current fees for each service can be found on the home page alongside the service in question. Follow-up visit fees will be subject to an annual 2.5-3% increase on July 1st to adjust for inflation rounded to the nearest $5.
What methods of payment do you accept?
ACH transfer, debit, credit, and FSA/HSA
When is the appointment fee processed?
For initial appointments including consults, $200 is collected at the time of booking and the balance will be processed the day of the appointment. For follow up visits, the fee is processed the day of the appointment.
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