What is it about?
How do psychologists and other mental health clinicians decide what to charge for their services? What factors influence how mental health clinicians are paid? What ethical complications come into this mix? Learn about the historical, complexity, and variety of considerations in ethical fee setting, billing and collections.
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Why is it important?
Both mental health clinicians and their patients can benefit by understanding the practical and ethical issues that come into play when setting fees and billing for mental and behavioral health services. These topics are rarely discussed in public forums and often invisible to patients. Example: Contracts with third parties (i.e., insurance companies) play a significant role in fee setting, not clearly understood by patients. Clinicians wanting to offer reduced fees may face contractual barriers.
Perspectives
This paper will help take the mystery out of fees and charges for mental and behavioral health services. It also clarifies the important ethical issues to think about with regard to fees and billing for these services. Example: Why and how mental health clinicians may ethically use collection agencies, but never should.
Dr. Gerald P. Koocher
Harvard Medical School
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Understanding fees in mental health practice., Practice Innovations, September 2017, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/pri0000048.
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