General Policies FAQ
Most of the common questions we receive are answered in these FAQ, organized by general topic. We are happy to answer additional questions by phone or in writing – reach out by telephone, email info@brainhealthpllc.com, or complete our Contact Form here.
You will need to contact your insurance company to get answers specific to your plan and contract in
order to verify coverage or to determine out-of-network benefits.
We make every reasonable effort to safeguard your privacy with use of a HIPAA-compliant Electronic Health Record (EHR) system integrated with secure payment processing and telehealth platform. We use our EHR system (IntakeQ) and its Client Portal, rather than email, for routine communications. Our EHR can send appointment reminders by text or email at your request, but we do not respond to text messages sent to the office phone number. Links to standardized rating scales are emailed directly to the recipient from test publishers’ HIPAA-compliant websites. Our consent forms have more information about electronic security and privacy.
Yes! We also test for functional challenges associated with medical and neurological disorders.
Reach out to us by phone or email, or by completing the brief Contact form on the website. A member of our team will follow-up to schedule an appointment or brief consult and to answer any questions you may
have. We are happy to schedule a brief call with Dr. Shapiro or anyone else prior to scheduling if you are unsure of how best to proceed or if we can best meet your needs. If we can’t, we are happy to provide
referrals.
Most states require licensure in the state in which the client is located at the time of services. Some states allow some limited practice by psychologists licensed in other states, while others require a full application for licensure in order to provide services to someone in that state. Dr. Shapiro has a full and unrestricted license to practice psychology in person and via telehealth in GA, IA, NC, and NE. She also holds APIT authorization to provide unlimited telehealth services and limited in-person services in 40+ states under PSYPACT, an interstate compact. For the most updated listing of participating states, click here.
It depends on the questions you’re asking, or the concerns prompting you to reach out to someone. Just as a nurse practitioner can provide good medical care for some medical disorders, some mental health professionals without doctoral-level training can provide good care, too. Psychiatrists are medical doctors with the same breadth and depth of training as a psychologist – also a doctor – but in the field of medicine. They explore medical / physiological bases of cognitive, emotional, or behavioral difficulties and
rely primarily on medical management of disorders (prescribing). Although some psychiatrists obtain additional training in psychotherapy, it is not typically of comparable breadth and depth as compared to masters- or doctoral-level psychotherapists like counselors or psychologists.
Most doctoral-level (PhD or PsyD) psychologists have 2-3 times more years of coursework and supervised pre-degree clinical training than masters-level providers, with additional post-doctoral fellowship training as well. Even so, a counselor who has chosen to specialize in one particular skill or service could ultimately have more training and expertise in that skill or service than a more broadly trained doctoral-level psychologist! Thus, it is important to ask what kind of experience and training a given provider has for your referral concerns, since the nature and level of the degree doesn’t always
provide a complete picture. When it comes to psychological testing, you should look for someone who has had multiple classes in the science of testing (psychometrics) and assessment itself, in addition to months of dedicated, supervised test administration, interpretation, and report-writing.
