Psychiatric Evaluation Cost

I received a letter from my surgeon telling me that the next step is to get a psyciatric evaluation along with names of five doctors. I called to set up an appointment with one which will include an hour appointment and then she will submit a written report to my doctor. The charge will be $400 out-of-pocket. I called my insurance and they said they will most likely not cover it because the psycs that don't accept insurance billing normally haven't gone through the steps to be accepted by insurances.

I call the surgeon's office and ask if I could chose someone closer to home and was told I could but they had to be board certified and have a PhD. I was unable to find anyone with these qualifications.

What I'm wondering is if $400 seems like a normal charge for this appointment or is it high?

Thanks!

I agree that sounds high. I paid a lot less.

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Dee

Banded 3/25/08

First Fill 2.6cc's-4/1/08-No restriction

I think it's high. Mine was $200 I think.

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-109 lbs
top 299/ surg 275 / now 190 / goal btwn 120-140
5"6'

Thread Starter

I thought it was high. The $400 is probably paying for the high rent in Santa Barbara. I think I'll call a couple of the other doctors.

I paid $300 in Reno.My ins. covered just about everything but that silly pysch. eval.

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This is probably because a psych eval would fall under mental health benefits for your insurance company, which is usually different than your medical benefits.

That said, mine's $325 (in chicagoland) and will be paid by insurance but which falls under my $500 deductible, so I"ll be paying it out of pocket.

- jen

WOW that is expensive. I had my pysc appointment today, and it was $50 and the next one will also be $50. I had to take a bunch of tests (t/f and scale of 1-5 things) and they will "score" them and my next appointment we will discuss the results....and I am also in IL...
:)

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Tonya, IL
surgery date 6/27/08

When I received my list of "recommended" psychologists and ran into the same issue. Even though none were listed as being covered by my insurance, when I called to set up an appt, I asked about cost and insurance. Apparently, there are certain codes they can use to get insurance to cover the eval. The Dr. I spoke with yesterday informed me that most insurance will pay if you file it a certain way. He asked that I pay for half his charge, then, if and when insurance pays, he would send me a refund, if any. That worked for me. So, just do some calling around with your fingers crossed.

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Annika
Banded - 5/09/08:
Pant size 20/14/10
Shirt: 2X/L/M

Thread Starter

I called two other doctors on the list and received a call back from one of them. He charges $300 so I decided to go with him and cancelled the other doctor. I thought I would like a female doctor better but talked to the one I switched to and he seemed really nice. I'm also surprised that his appointment is 2 hours vs. 1 hour for the more expensive one and he said that he will file my insurance paperwork even though I have to pay him up front.