Collaboration: For established patients who require us to collaborate with outside providers, we require that you provide us with verbal consent and/or a signed release of information (ROI) form. The ROI form can be found under the Forms section on our website. After giving us your release(s), our provider will be happy to discuss your care and treatment with an emergency department provider, a psychiatric consultation liaison team at a hospital, PCP, medical specialist(s), and/or inpatient psychiatric team before, during, and after discharge from a hospital or a day program facility. 

If you have been hospitalized and a collaboration is needed, please call our office or send us a message via the patient portal reporting where you have been admitted as well as the name and the phone number of the provider whom we will need to contact. Alternatively, you can instruct your inpatient or emergency department provider to contact us and report that you have provided verbal permission to communicate about your psychiatric and medical care. If time permits, you can also sign an ROI and send it via patient portal or fax.

Without these aforementioned consents, we will not be able to collaborate with outside medical professionals or confirm/deny that you are a patient of our clinic in order to protect your confidentiality and to comply with HIPAA laws.

Telepsychiatry: to receive telepsychiatry services in compliance with the law, you will need to be in the state of Illinois at the time of your appointment and situated in an environment that is safe and private. Please also ensure that you have a stable internet connection to make the best out of your appointment. If these conditions are not met, we will need to reschedule your appointment. A rescheduling fee will be charged as outlined in our initial registration paperwork. If controlled substance medications are prescribed, we adhere to the latest DEA regulations, comply with all legal requirements, and uphold the highest standards of care.

In-person appointments and hybrid appointments: will be available in February 2025. They are determined based on the provider’s clinical judgment and the law. 

Initial psychiatric evaluation appointment: please call 48 hours before your appointment if you need to cancel or reschedule. Otherwise, a no-show or late cancellation fee will be charged as outlined in our initial registration paperwork. 

Follow-up appointment: regular follow-up care within the recommended timeframe is essential so we can adequately evaluate how you are doing, especially if medication(s) is (are) prescribed. Please call us 48 hours before your appointment to cancel; otherwise, we will charge you a fee as outlined in our initial registration paperwork. We understand emergencies happen. We will waive one (1) no-show/late cancellation fee per year as a courtesy to our established patients.

Appointment Frequency: we require patients to be seen at least once every three months in order for us to order medication refill(s). If you do not have a standing appointment within three months of your previous appointment, we will ask you to schedule an appointment and we then can order medication refill(s) as long as you are doing well on the medication(s) and you are not having any side effect(s). If you have not been seen within a 12-month period, you will need to be seen as a new patient to further evaluate your new psychiatric status in order to recommend appropriate psychiatric treatment modalities. 

Grace Period: A 15-minute grace period is allowed for all appointments. If you arrive after this period, your appointment will need to be rescheduled.

Safety: safety is our priority. We have a zero-tolerance policy for physical violence and/or verbal abuse and intimidation directed to our staff and providers. Any such behavior by a patient will result in an immediate termination as a patient from our clinic. By scheduling an appointment with us, you consent to this policy. 

Electronic Communications:

• All electronic communications, including HIPAA-compliant text messages or calls, the contact form on this website, clinic email, and social media interactions, are intended exclusively for general administrative inquiries only. Such inquiries include requests for appointment availability, the providers' specialties, whether a new patient would be a good candidate for the clinic, clinical service fees, other practice management questions, and mental health awareness promotion. Electronic inquiries do not replace any form of a psychiatric evaluation and neither do they establish a patient-provider relationship. Therefore, please do not provide any personal or sensitive information. Our clinic does not provide emergency psychiatric care. If you are having thoughts of imminently hurting yourself or another person, and you are either a new or an established patient, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. We also recommend calling/texting the national suicidal hotline at 988 for a psychiatric crisis. We included some useful information under the Resources section on our website for your reference. We are strong believers in patient education and advocacy.

• The patient portal is for established patients to communicate with our clinical team and providers. We highly recommend that our established patients use this to communicate with us for any administrative or clinical requests or non-imminent questions as it is the most efficient way to address your needs timely. 

Thank you very much for your understanding and for allowing us to partner with you in your journey to well-being.