Welcome to Our FAQs
Your Questions, Answered Here
We understand how important your concerns are. Here, we address common questions to help guide you through our services.
Common Questions
Explore answers to frequently asked queries about our counseling and psychological assessment services.
What insurances do you take?
All our providers accept HMAA, HMSA and UHA. Some accept Medicare, UHC. Some therapists can also accept PSWA, DMBA.
For any other plan, please check if you have out-of-network benefits. If so, we will invoice you the out of network rate, but it remains your responsibility to claim reimbursement for services.
Please also be sure you have uploaded your insurance information to our system, or use the Secure File Upload feature on this website’s Home page to manually send us a copy.
If this is not done and any insurance claim is not paid, the balance becomes your responsibility.
Can I still get services if you don't take my insurance, or if I don't have medical insurance?
Yes. If we are not in-network with your insurance company or if you want to pay out of pocket, we will charge you for the entire cost of service.
Ask us for a Good Faith Estimate, part of the No Surprises Act for anticipated costs.
GFEs are based on what is known at the time of creation, and may be revised after initial appointment if further services are needed.
Does medical insurance normally cover the cost of services?
If we are in-network with your plan:
Most insurances cover individual therapy following your plan’s co-pay annual deductible amounts.
For evaluations, insurance may cover at least a partial amount. Some insurances require proof of medical necessity, in the form of a faxed referral from your PCP to us directly.
Any testing for academic purpose is not medical-need based and NOT covered. A handful of insurances do not cover concerns such as ADHD testing, please check with your plan if they do cover it and the conditions for coverage, if any.
Ask us for an estimate for any service that is not covered by your plan.
What is a telehealth appointment?
Telehealth appointments are conducted over a HIPAA-compliant audio/visual system. We will send you an appointment reminder with link. If using a desktop/laptop, the link is sufficient to get you online, so please guard this link so no one else can join. For mobile device use, having our system app downloaded prior to link use can be helpful but often not necessary.
The majority of our appointments are telehealth, but we do have some in-person appointments available.
What should I bring to my first appointment?
Government-issued photo ID.
Please also be sure you have uploaded your insurance information to our system, or use the Secure File Upload feature on this website’s Home page to manually send us a copy.
If this is not done and any insurance claim is not paid, the balance becomes your responsibility.
What if I need to cancel my appointment?
Please call our office at 808-488-9288 and follow the prompts to leave us a voice message. We will let your provider know the reason, and date/time of call.
We do charge for cancellations within 24 hours of appointment time.
What is an Psychological or Neuropsychological Evaluation?
The American Psychological Association defines an evaluation as when psychologists use tests and other assessment tools to measure and observe a patient’s behavior to arrive at a diagnosis and guide treatment
Psychological evaluation – the gathering and integration of data to evaluate a person’s behavior, abilities, and other characteristics, particularly for the purposes of making a diagnosis or treatment recommendation.
Neuropsychological evaluation – an evaluation on of the presence, nature, and extent of brain damage or dysfunction derived from the results of various neuropsychological tests. These are usually requested by medical doctors.
What types of evaluations do you do?
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Specific Learning Disabilities/Differences (LD)
- Pre-Bariatric surgery psychological evaluations
- Head Trauma evaluations
- Memory or Alzheimer’s/Dementia
- Limited appointments for Autism Spectrum Disorder
If you only know ‘something is not right,’ please give us some details of behaviors, situations that led you to inquire about testing. We will see if one of our testing psychologists can help. Your PCP may be able to help narrow this down.
What can I expect from an evaluation?
Assessments have four (4) main components:
Initial appointment
Test taking appointments
Data gathering and report creation
Final appointment to discuss results (Feedback).
Tests are given by Psychometrists, who work with the psychologist. There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers, and which tests are determined by the psychologist to help with diagnosis.
Psychologists also ask for additional information, either by discussion or questionnaires, to help get a better overall picture of the person being evaluated. These include family members, teachers or close friends, but someone that we are given permission to contact.
At what age can I get an evaluation?
Our tests are for ages 6+.
What can I expect from a therapy session?
During a session, you can expect a safe space to share your thoughts and feelings. Our goal is to listen and guide you. It’s a collaborative process aimed at helping you move toward your personal goals.
What is the cost of an ADHD/LD evaluation?
Insurances do not pay for any testing that is for educational purposes, such as LD testing. A few may not cover ADHD testing without a medical necessity reason from your PCP. This includes (but not limited to) testing for such concerns as dyslexia, dysgraphia, etc.
However, due to the high co-morbidity of ADHD and LD, we recommend getting both at the same time.
Estimates below are total base cost without insurance. Final amount may be lower or higher, based on the individual’s needs.
Your insurance may cover some of the cost.
ADHD: $2040
LD add-on to ADHD: $1705
LD stand alone: $2220
If any additional testing is recommended during first appointment, we can send a revised estimate if services would be over the base amount.
What is virtual testing?
Dr Porter works with a psychometrist experienced in virtual testing, which was used during the Covid-19 public health emergency. Some insurances have continued to allow telehealth testing, please check with your plan.
For testing to be valid, a private, quiet space must be used and shown on-camera with no one else in attendance unless approved by psychometrist.
Virtual testing may take longer than in-person testing, as it requires a packet to be mailed out, and unopened until instructed to do so during appointment time.
What is a psychometrist?
A psychometrist is the psychologist’s assistant, whose primary duty is to administer the tests ordered by the psychologist.
Psychometrists work closely with the doctor to assist with gathering data and keeping track of what is collected. Once testing is complete, they will schedule the final appointment with doctor, to discuss the results of testing.
Understand Your Insurance Options
Please check your insurance plan to see what is covered and your deductible amount.
If your insurance does not cover service(s) and/or you have not met your deductible, full charges will be sent to you.
If we are out-of-network, please let us know if your plan has an out of network benefit. If so, we will need to file a pre-authorization request for services. These can take several days to be processed, and may have higher co-pays.
For therapy, we accept HMAA, HMSA (and some Blue Cross Blue Shield), PSWA, Medicare, UHA. We are also able to accept DMBA with pre-authorization.
For evaluations, some insurers only cover this if there is a medical necessity. In this case, we will need a faxed medical referral from your doctor with this information.
For evaluations, we accept HMAA, HMSA (and some Blue Cross Blue Shield), PSWA, Medicare, Alohacare, and we may be able to accept some UHC plans, please check with your plan. UHA members may be covered with medical referral.
We're here to help you find peace
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.