Dr. Richard Shapiro
Board Certified and Licensed Psychologist
Board Certified Telehealth Professional

ABOUT MY PRACTICE

I SPECIALIZE IN VIDEO-BASED THERAPY.

 

I am a Board Certified Clinical Psychologist licensed in multiple states.

I am an Advanced Telebehavioral Healh Practitioner.

Certified by PSYPACT Commission: PSYPACT Mobility Certificate APIT E Passport #4755

I have been in private practice since 1983.

CT LIC. #001081

FL LIC. #PY 10629

GA LIC. #PSY004345

Diplomate, American Board of Professional Psychology (ABClinP #8929)

My degrees include a BS in Psychology (University of Michigan, 1976) an M.A. in Psychology (C.W. Post College, 1978) and a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology (Emory University, 1983).

My services address the needs of older children, adolescents, and adults. I provide individual therapy, couples therapy, family therapy, stress management counseling, alcohol and drug counseling, psychological assessment, consultative evaluations, and consultations to schools/organizations.

I offer consultations and therapy in the office as well as consultation and therapy via approved teletherapy methods such as secure videoconferencing.

Rich Shapiro Board Certified Clinical Psychologist
TBHI Badge Dr. Richard Shapiro
The Video Visit Option
How Do I Set Up a Therapy Appointment
Fees & Insurance Coverage
The Video Visit Option

I specialize in offering video-based therapy by secure HIPAA Compliant videoconferencing. The use of videoconferencing and other electronic methods to provide psychology services has been called by several different names including Telepsychology, Telemental Health, and Telebehavioral Health. I call this a Video Visit for ease of description.

A Video Visit is a very effective and enjoyable way to have a therapy session or consultation. You can interact with and see your therapist in real time. It is similar to using services like Skype, Duo, or FaceTime. but meets the standards for HIPAA compliance. I find that many patients enjoy the flexibility of being able to have some or all of their sessions without having to come into the office. Many adolescents and adults enjoy the advantages of privacy and ease of access. This removes some of the barriers to treatment. There is also an expanding scientific literature that supports the clinical effectiveness and client satisfaction with this therapy format as well as other Telemental Health approaches to treatment for many though not every clinical condition or personal problem. If you are interested in the Video Visit option I will discuss this with you in advance of the first meeting to determine if this approach would fit for our working together.

Some patients may still prefer to have all of their therapy sessions in the office. This has been the traditional way of meeting with a therapist. The in person experience in a comfortable office setting where interactions and feedback occur in real time is an advantage and a scenario many people come to expect. On the down side, bad weather, babysitter availability, appointment availability, and closeness to home or work sometimes makes it difficult to get to appointments. Also, some people wonder about possibly running into someone they may know from their town or school or community. These challenges are often taken care of by having a videovisit.

If you have videovisits with me, you will have access to secure messaging and there will be ways to complete assessments, do paperwork, pay for services etc. through the HIPAA compliant patient portal.  The patient portal and secure videovisit platform is accessed by password only. You will be given access before your first scheduled videovisit session.

How Do I Set Up a Therapy Appointment
How Do I Set Up A Therapy Appointment?

If you are interested in therapy for yourself, your family, or loved one please fill in your name and phone number on the contact me page. I will respond to your inquiry by calling you as soon as possible. You may also call me at 203-254-3800. Listen for the prompt, press 1 and leave me a message. I will return your call and we will briefly discuss your concerns to determine whether I can be of help and if it makes sense to take the next step and arrange an initial professional consultation.

 

What Happens During Our First Appointment?

The initial consultation is called an intake. Whether we arrange this meeting to take place in person at my office or we decide to have a video visit, there will be some paperwork to complete. There will be an intake form that requests basic demographic information about the patient as well as physical and mental health history, treating doctors, insurance information, emergency contacts etc. There will also be forms relating to fees and financial agreements, privacy practices, patient information and consent for treatment, consent for teletherapy (video visits/phone sessions etc.), text messaging or secure direct messaging. These forms are available through the patient portal.

During our intake consultation we will discuss the concerns, challenges, and problems that prompted you to seek help. I reserve an hour for this first visit. During the initial consultation session, I will gather information from you and with your permission (if an adult) possibly from significant others that accompany you and participate with you in the treatment process. I will have you fill out brief standardized assessments or questionnaires to help us better understand your situation. I will also gather background information and get your view of the types of solutions you have already attempted. Knowing what has and what has not helped you in the past is very useful to our working together. I will engage you in a clinical interview to gather important information on your mental and physical functioning including such things as symptoms, coping skills, strengths, challenges and impairments. I will also be interested in your relationships, especially if relationship issues or concerns have prompted you to seek help. Understandably, this is a lot of information to gather and as such it may take more than one session to get a really good understanding of how to help you. We will then discuss and agree upon a plan of action.

Fees & Insurance Coverage
Does Insurance Pay for Services?

Insurance typically can be used to pay for medically necessary mental health services. Insurance often does not cover marriage therapy, couples therapy or relationship enhancement and it does not typically cover therapy for personal growth, enhanced performance or coaching.

I am a licensed psychologist in states of Connecticut, Georgia and Florida and I am licensed through PSYPACT to provide treatment in PSYPACT states from my GA office.  As such, most major insurances are mandated to cover medically necessary services provided in the office.  Many but not all insurance plans also cover Telemental health Video visits.

I am on some insurance panels in Connecticut, but I am not on all panels so please check with me and please check with your insurance plan.

I am not on any insurance panels in Georgia or Florida, but I am willing to submit claims on your behalf as an out of network provider.

 

 Choosing Whether or Not to Use Insurance for Psychotherapy

Having insurance is a very important, necessary, and frequently expensive benefit. It may be very sensible to utilize it to the greatest possible extent to cover your healthcare needs. It is likely to be relatively low cost for you to use your insurance if you are only responsible for the copayment. It is important, however, for you to know whether or not you have a high deductible plan. A high deductible plan is one that requires you to spend a certain amount of money paying for medical services before your benefits can be applied to your bill. The overarching criterion for using this benefit is medical necessity.

If you plan to use your insurance to pay for your therapy the insurance company will require an official medical diagnosis from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition (DSM 5) or the International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition (ICD-10-CM). This diagnosis will remain in your clinical health record and will be listed on your insurance claim form.  Your clinical (treatment) records may be requested by your insurance company in order to determine whether or not to authorize or pay for treatment. They may also request a record review at any time even if you have ended treatment. You signed an authorization for them to do this when you signed up for your insurance coverage and you also signed a release for this to happen when you authorize your provider to submit a claim on your behalf. This is standard procedure for all insurance companies and doctors’ offices.

If you happen to be applying for life insurance or disability insurance those specialized insurance companies may require you to verify whether or not you have had treatment for a mental health disorder as defined by the DSM 5 or ICD-10-CM. They typically request medical records from all your medical providers. If you use your insurance to pay for psychotherapy, they may request records regarding your mental health treatment.

Your insurance company may require treatment reviews every so many visits. This number varies by insurance plan and sometimes never happens at all. Typically, a clinician/administrator from the insurance company calls the therapist and asks detailed questions about your symptoms, diagnosis, treatment plan and your progress in reaching your treatment goals. The insurance company does this in order to make sure that your treatment is medically necessary and meets certain criteria. Nevertheless, it requires the therapist to share potentially sensitive details about your life. Insurance companies may impose limitations on the total number of sessions as well as the length of each session.

If you want to keep the fact that you are in treatment, as well as any information about that treatment including specific problems, symptoms, diagnoses, and progress, completely private you may decide that paying directly is worth the extra out of pocket cost. This gives you much greater control over your private matters and protected health information. If you pay for therapy out of pocket, I am still required by law to document certain elements of your treatment in your treatment record, but that information is kept strictly confidential between us. It will not be released to insurance companies or their related entities. It cannot be released to anyone without your permission except under certain highly unusual circumstances. Your privacy matters to me so please see the section on privacy matters for more details.

Ultimately, whether you use your insurance coverage or not to cover your therapy expenses is a personal choice that I fully respect. You are entitled to use your insurance benefits as you wish providing their specific use in these circumstances is allowed by your insurance plan.

 

How Much Does Therapy Cost?

In network therapy fees are determined by the specific insurance company contracts for the panels on which Dr. Shapiro is a contracted independent provider. If I am in network with your insurance company you will be responsible for your copay or coinsurance after your deductible, if you have one, is met. Please check with your insurance company about this.

Out of network fees are based on a charge of $280/hr. Whether you use in network or out of network insurance benefits I will submit the insurance for you electronically. Copayments/coinsurance and deductibles are due at the time of the session. In addition, if you have authorized a non-covered service the fees for that service are due at the time of the session. I accept credit/debit cards, HSA cards, checks or cash payment.

 

Consultation to Treatment Programs, Therapeutic Day Programs, Schools, Law Firms, etc.

Fees are substantially higher than psychotherapy fees and are based on complexity and scope of work to be contracted. Contact Dr. Shapiro for more information.