In the event of a psychiatric emergency, please call 911, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or find a way to safely get to your nearest emergency room.

Please make sure Dr. Panzone is contacted by whoever evaluates you during the emergency.

IF YOU ARE NOT SURE IF YOUR SITUATION IS URGENT OR AN EMERGENCY, PLEASE BE ON THE SAFE SIDE AND TREAT IT LIKE AN EMERGENCY. REMEMBER THAT IT COULD BE SEVERAL HOURS BEFORE DR. PANZONE IS ABLE TO RETURN AN URGENT PHONE CALL.

Please plan ahead for medication refills, as these requests are sometimes not considered emergency situations.

Phone Calls and Voicemails:
Dr. Panzone will review voicemails and messages at least three times each day during regular business hours. When you call, you can leave a non-urgent voicemail, or to communicate a more urgent message, you can send a text message to the office number. Non-urgent calls will be returned within 24 hours, or the next business day if on a weekend or holiday. Dr. Panzone makes every effort to reply to all calls within a reasonable time but does not interrupt another patient’s session to answer phone calls. Dr. Panzone will try to return urgent messages within 2-3 hours, or as soon as he is able to call you. 

*When you call/leave a message, please leave your full name, date of birth, phone number, and the reason you are calling, and Dr. Panzone will reply.

Email:
Email sent by patients is for initial appointment or billing communications only. Please do not send clinical information, prescription requests, or questions about your care via email. Our electronic medical record system’s patient portal emails you a confirmation of scheduled appointments and appointment reminders.

Patient Portal:
Dr. Panzone uses a HIPAA-compliant patient portal. Here, you can securely send messages about your treatment or copies of any previous records directly to Dr. Panzone and review billing statements and payment history.

Please note, payment cannot be made through the patient portal.

Our office uses state-of-the-art, web-based electronic medical records and web-based medication prescribing systems. These maintain your records confidentially, under the HIPAA requirements, and make it safer to get medications and refills.

Medication evaluation, dose adjustment, and refills are all made during your Management Session appointments.

Dr. Panzone will provide you with refills to last until your next scheduled appointment. Try to anticipate your medication needs and call for refills only during regular business hours. Please do not wait to call until you run out of your medication; give several days’ notice to allow Dr. Panzone time to place the prescription.

If, for some reason, you miss your appointment, please inform this practice if you need medication to last until your next appointment. No refills will be provided until another appointment is scheduled.

Medication refills will not be provided if you have gone beyond 6 months without evaluation by Dr. Panzone; at that time, you must be evaluated in person (or via telehealth) to get medication refills.

Fees for all appointments will be discussed during our introductory phone call. 

Administrative Time Fee
There will be a fee if you need Dr. Panzone to communicate by phone with your insurance company or for other miscellaneous needs that cannot be addressed during your appointment time.  You will be notified if an administrative fee is required.

This includes special documentation preparation such as workers compensation, advocacy letter, employment, disability, etc.

Printing and Photocopy
Charges may be applied for documentation requests.

Returned Check Fee
If a check is returned due to insufficient funds, a $25 additional fee is charged.

Cancellation Fees
See below, Cancellation Policy

Outstanding Balances
If you do not arrange a payment plan, accounts outstanding for more than 90 days will be sent to our collection agency.

Payment Plans
Payment plans are available to divide your estimated yearly costs to equal monthly payment installments.

If you cancel or reschedule your appointment at least 24 hours prior to your appointment time, you will not be charged any fees.

If you cancel or reschedule an appointment less than 24 hours prior to your appointment time or miss the appointment completely (a no-show for the appointment), then you may be charged a fee for your missed or canceled appointment.

1st no-show for an appointment or cancellation less than 24 hours prior to your appointment will not be charged a fee.

2nd no-show for an appointment or cancellation less than 24 hours prior to your appointment will result in a fee equivalent to ½ the amount of the visit fee.

3rd no-show for an appointment or cancellation less than 24 hours prior to your appointment will result in a fee equivalent to the full amount of the visit fee.

Exceptions will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and are at the discretion of Dr. Panzone.

Please call our office as soon as you know you will either miss or not arrive in time for your appointment.

*Please note that most insurance carriers will not reimburse you for canceled or missed appointment fees. Please also check with your insurance company prior to see if they reimburse for video (telehealth) sessions.

If your mental health needs are too great to be safely managed by a part-time individual psychiatrist, Dr. Panzone reserves the right to refer you to more appropriate psychiatric care (for example, a full-time psychiatric group, a psychiatric hospital, or mental health clinic) who can better and more safely meet your needs.

Any of the following may be grounds for termination of care:

a.) Refusal at any time to allow Dr. Panzone to communicate with your primary support network, or current or previous mental health providers.

b.) Refusal or non-adherence to your treatment plan, established and agreed to by you and Dr. Panzone, including completion of necessary lab-work and prompt random drug screening.

c.) Suspected misuse or over-use or diversion of controlled substances.

d.) Missing an unreasonable amount of appointments.

e.) More than one bounced check or significant unpaid balances.

f.) Not agreeing to set up a reasonable payment plan for unpaid balances.