Location / Terms & Health Insurance

 There are different ways in which psychotherapeutic sessions in my practice can be paid for:

1.) Basic health insurance

• Coverage by the basic health insurance is only possible if you have a medical doctors referral issued by a general practitioner (e.g. your family doctor) or a psychiatrist.

• A referral is usually issued if there is an indication for psychotherapy, i.e. if you are suffering from a mental illness and / or you have psychological complaints that can be improved by psychotherapy.

à Please bring your health insurance card and your medical doctors referral  to your first appointment.

• Limitation: Basic insurance covers 15 sessions, after which - if necessary - a further application for 15 sessions can be submitted. It is the patient's responsibility to obtain a second referral in a timely manner. After 30 sessions, an assessment by a psychiatrist is required to evaluate whether further treatment will be covered by the health insurance. It is the patient's responsibility to find this psychiatrist. As I have to send a short report to the prescribing doctor, you have to release me from medical confidentiality towards your referring doctor.

• Rates are set by the basic health insurance. 90% of the cost is covered by insurance, 10% has to be covered by the client (deductible). Current rates are 154.80 CHF per 60 minutes. The invoice is sent directly to your health insurance company, you will receive an electronic copy.

2.) Supplementary health insurance

• Please check with your supplementary insurance company whether and to what extent they will contribute to the costs of your psychological counselling prior to starting treatment.
• Since I have been recognized by the basic health insurance in the new so-called prescription model (Anordnungsmodell) in 2022, many supplementary insurances no longer cover my services.

3.) Self-payment

• You pay for your treatment yourself.
• Psychological services that do not serve to treat a mental disorder are generally not covered by the basic health insurance and must therefore be paid for privately (e.g., life counselling, burnout prevention). 

• Individual sessions are charged at 190 CHF per 60 minutes.
• Longer sessions and additional services in your absence (written reports, correspondences, telephone calls) are charged at 32 CHF per 10 minutes. 

• In case of last-minute cancellations and postponements less than 36 hours before the scheduled appointment, you will be charged for the missed session, irrespective of the reason for the inability to attend.
•  The costs for appointments cancelled at short notice must be paid directly by you and are not covered by the health insurance.

• What is discussed in psychotherapy is kept strictly confidential. I am bound by doctor-patient confidentiality.
• For psychotherapy sessions by phone or video-call, you agree to the privacy policy of the chosen video Video-call service provider. The responsibility for data protection remains with the client.
•  If you contact me via a messenger such as WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal, you thereby allow me to send you a reply on the same channel. 
• For administrative matters, I work with the Ärztekasse. Please contact the Ärztekasse directly if you have any questions regarding invoicing and payment. Further Information: www.aerztekasse.ch/patienteninfo.

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