Practice Policies

General Information

The Pilot Children Center provides therapeutic counseling services to each unique child and family. The Pilot Center teaches and provides tools to enable children and adults to navigate through life changes and challenges with greater ease

If we determine that Pilot Children’s Center is not the most appropriate treatment option for you at this time based on your needs and our services, we will make quality referrals to outside providers and organizations near your zip code.

Our Goal

Our goal is to provide high level quality care for every client, because we believe that we all deserve access to high quality mental health care and therapy is unique for everyone. Every child or adult may have different needs and ways that they prefer to interact in therapy. Based on personal situations and personalities, some clients may benefit from differing modalities such as CBT, DBT, Gestalt, Solution Based Therapy and differing styles of support. Timelines may vary based on child and family needs.

The Right Match

If for some reason you experience dissatisfaction with our products/ services in any situation, please let us know by emailing support@pilotchildrenscenter.com. The reasons you may be experiencing these situations could be because you may have experienced software difficulties or professional services that were not compatible for you.  Our goal will be to correct whatever issue had happened for you.

Client Confidentiality

The information discussed in therapy is confidential and cannot be disclosed to anyone.  The exceptions to this rule are:

• If there is evidence of child or elder abuse.

• If the therapist learns that there exists a serious threat to the client or the safety of another.

• If you sign a release of information as part of your insurance form or you are referred by an E.A.P. or managed care company that requests information.

• If you sign a release of information for the therapist to share information with others specifically.

1. If a client is at imminent risk of harming themself or attempting suicide or otherwise conducts him/herself in a manner in which there is a substantial risk of the client incurring serious bodily harm.
2. If a client expresses an intent to cause grave bodily harm or death to another person.
3. If the therapist has a reasonable suspicion that a client or other named victim is the perpetrator, observer of, or actual victim of physical, emotional or sexual abuse of children under the age of 18 years.
4. Suspicions as stated above in the case of an elderly person (65 or over) or a dependent adult who may be subjected to physical, emotional, financial, or sexual abuse, or isolation (“dependent adults” are persons ages 18 – 64 who have physical or mental limitations that restrict their ability to carry out normal activities or protect their rights).
5. If a court of law issues a legitimate subpoena for information stated on the subpoena.

• If a client is in therapy or being treated by us by order of a court of law, or if information is obtained from us for the purpose of rendering an expert’s report to an attorney who represents you.
• If there is a court order for the therapist to appear or produce records.

Cancellation Policy

For therapy to be effective, it is important to attend your appointments as scheduled.  If you are unable to keep an appointment please notify the therapist.  Out of respect for your clinician and other clients who are awaiting consultation slots, notification to cancel or reschedule a matching appointment must be provided at least 48 hours before the appointment start time.  you will be responsible for the full hourly fee of your service.

Payment

Payment is due at the time of the appointment.  We will automatically charge your credit card number you provide us once the session has concluded.  Please note that we update our fees at the start of each year and as needed in line with growing business and team costs.  

Punctuality

• It is important for you to be on time for your appointments to make the most use of your time with your clinician/ coach /phycologist.
• If you think that you are going to be late, please contact your clinician/ coach /psychologist with an estimated time of arrival. (ETA)
• If you arrive over fifteen minutes late for a session they may not be a sufficient time to conduct a productive session. Due to this Pilot Children’s Center may cancel and charge our full rate per session. In addition, Pilot Children’s Center does not bill half sessions, Pilot Children’s Center will bill full sessions only.
• To better help your treatment sometimes our clinician/ coach /psychologist will request back to back sessions for specific treatments requested, this will be billed as two separate sessions.

Teletherapy

We provide our services virtually to a secure video conference platform. Our focus is to provide this convenience and to be able to help you save the commuting time so that therapy does not take more excess time than it should. Our teletherapy is HIPPA compliant and offers a high level of effectiveness.

Before you start teletherapy our clinician/ coach /psychologist will review the information below  and obtain your verbal consent to proceed at the beginning of your first teletherapy session.

• Pilot Children’s Center notice of Privacy Practices and its other policies (forms) and procedures apply with respect to teletherapy services.
• Teletherapy sessions are confidential under the same state and federal laws that protect the confidentiality of in-office sessions, and no one is permitted to record a teletherapy session without consent from the other party.
• There are potential risks to engaging in teletherapy, including: interruptions, background noise, or technical difficulties. Even when Pilot Children’s Center uses a secure HIPAA compliant software for all of our platform / video sessions, we do not guarantee unauthorized access to your session.  In addition, another risk is that your clinician will not be in the same location as you in the event of a crisis, but can still support you virtually if requested.
• The Benefits of using telehealth are: there is easy access to care and to continued care. Teletherapy offers a convenient meeting for you at the location you please. It enables more time for clients with full schedules for their family or their own mental health.

Insurance Reimbursement

The majority of the sessions are considered out of network which means that there is the possibility of your insurance health plan to possibly reimburse for a portion of the session or not any of  the session. If you have questions or concerns please contact your insurance provider directly to find out what your mental health plan covers for a telehealth session.

Measurement-based Care

We create treatment plans tailored to an individual or family’s needs.  The plan can be short term or longer term depending on the goals. The Therapist and client can discuss the best timeline and plan that works best for the client.  Generally clients can plan for 4-8 weeks of therapy depending on the clients needs.

Digital Communication

Our platform uses digital communication information with you (including emails, text message to confirm your appointment, unless you prefer the method of us sending you the papers and forms for you to sign. Please understand that we cannot 100% guarantee confidentiality of any electronic form of communication through electronic media.

HIPAA Privacy Notice

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires all health care providers to provide Notice of Privacy Practices. The notice will inform you of the ways we may use your information and the occasions on which we may disclose this information to others.The notice will also explain your rights regarding your health information:

• Right to request restriction
• Right to receive confidential communications
• Right to inspect and copy your health information
• Right to amend your health information
• Right to an accounting of disclosures
• Right to a paper copy of the notice
• Right to complain if you feel your privacy has been violated

If you have any questions regarding HIPPA compliance, Privacy Policies, Practice Policies and Terms and Conditions please do not hesitate to contact us at support@pilotchildrenscenter.com . We will seek to return messages in a prompt manner but we cannot guarantee immediate responses.  In the event of an emergency please call 911 or go to your nearest Emergency Center.

 

These practice policies have been recently updated on April 7, 2021.‍