How long are visits?
New patient visits are schedule for up to 2 hours, but can be as short as an hour or an hour and a half at times. Visits are basically as long as they need to be for each patient. Follow up visits are usually 20-30 minutes (sometimes less, if patients are doing really well; sometimes more, if patients/situations are more complicated.
Does the child need to be present for the entire visit?
It depends. Dr. Heck does need to see the patient at each visit to evaluate them and observe their behavior (unless we’ve specifically scheduled a parent-only meeting, which should be rare). That being said, sometimes with children with certain problems, especially with young or non-verbal children, and especially for the first visit, when it’s a long visit with a lot of history and data gathering, it can be ok for the child to be present for just part of the visit if they wish, though they’re certainly welcome for the entire thing.
Do you take insurance?
We do not currently accept any insurance, including Medicaid. All visits are paid out of pocket. We can provide a superbill on request for you to submit to try to get out of network reimbursement, if available.
How much do visits cost?
New patient visits are $750. Typical follow up visits are $200, and extended follow up visits are $400 if extended time is needed (though this is relatively rare).
How often do we have to have an appointment?
The standard of care in child psychiatry is that stable patients who are doing well should be seen every 3 months. If we are making any changes, or have any concerns we’re monitoring then visits will likely be approximately monthly until things are stable and no more changes are required. But no one should go more than 3 months without having an appointment.
How do we schedule a new patient visit and what is the process like?
Email Dr. Heck at drheck@treehousechildpsychiatry with a short paragraph describing your child and what you’re looking for. Dr. Heck will reply and offer times to set up a visit, usually within 1-2 months currently. We’ll need some basic info (name, birthday, address, phone number, email) to set up your electronic health record account. At this point you’ll get an email from Charm (our electronic record system) to set up your account, and once you confirm and sign in, you’ll see some office forms to e-sign and some history questionnaires and screening rating scales to fill out. You’ll get a Zoom link in the calendar attachment of your appointment confirmation email, or you can email Dr. Heck and ask for the link. Once you receive the link you can bookmark it and save it as it is always the same.
Do you see adults?
Not typically at this time. We will occasionally see limited adult patients if they’re parents of exisiting patients for specific problems like basic ADHD treatment.