At your first visit you will be required to sign a statement that you have received information about your rights under HIPAA. This is now a routine practice for all health care visits, including counseling and mental health care. It sets national standards for the use and protection of your confidential health information.

WHAT IS HIPAA?

“HIPAA” is an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (August 21), Public Law 104-191, which amended the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1986. Also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act, the Act includes a section, Title II, entitled Administrative Simplification, requiring:

1. Improved efficiency in healthcare delivery by standardizing electronic data interchange, and
2. Protection of confidentiality and security of health data through setting and enforcing standards.

More specifically, HIPAA called upon the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish new rules that will ensure:

1. Standardization of electronic patient health, administrative and financial data
2. Unique health identifiers for individuals, employers, health plans and health care providers
3. Security standards protecting the confidentiality and integrity of “individually identifiable health information,” past, present or future.

Who is affected? Virtually all healthcare organizations – including all healthcare providers, health plans, public health authorities, healthcare clearinghouses, and self-ensured employers – as well as life insurers, information systems vendors, various service organizations, and universities.

Are there penalties? HIPAA calls for severe civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance.

How does this affect my counseling? We meet the compliance requirements for HIPPA which include:

• Comprehensive assessment of our business privacy practices, information security systems and procedures, and use of electronic transactions.
• Our electronic billing service is secure and HIPPA compliant. If you wish you may opt out of e-commerce by asking our front desk staff. Infrequently, and only at the request and initiation of clients I will respond to emails. Our policies, processes, and procedures are intended to protect privacy, security and patients’ rights.

• Our business associate agreements support HIPAA objectives.
• We are developing and maintaining a secure technical and physical information infrastructure.
• We update information systems to safeguard protected health information (PHI) and enable use of standard claims and related transactions.
• We train all workforce members on HIPPA.
• We have developed and maintain an internal privacy and security management and enforcement infrastructure, including providing a Privacy Officer and a Security Officer, Dr. Cheryl Haugh 831 South Oak Park Ave. Oak Park IL 60304 (708) 848-9900.

More information about HIPPA is available at www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/

More Questions?

Call me – Elizabeth Ritzman, LCPC

708-848-9900    Or Email me:  Elizabeth@elizabethritzman.com

Will my health insurance pay for counseling?

Although most providers require you to take ultimate responsibility for paying your bill, health insurance may reimburse you or your healthcare provider for medically necessary treatment for covered, diagnosed conditions that impair your ability to function. They do not generally pay for counseling to relieve stress, enhance or maintain wellbeing or prevent problems down the road.

The exception to this rule is that some employers provide employee assistance programs which offer limited counseling for short term problems or crisis. Often these programs are limited to three sessions and then they refer you on to another provider for further treatment, which, if it is medically necessary may be covered by insurance.

That means you must

• Be diagnosed with a condition that meets the standard diagnostic criteria (these conditions are described in detail in a manual: (DSMIV).
• Be unable to function normally without treatment.
• Receive treatment intended to relieve that condition.

Finally, you must be willing to release that information about yourself to your insurance company and willing to have that information in your permanent medical record.

Whoa…What about confidentiality?

You should have complete confidentiality (assuming you don’t present a threat to yourself or others) if you are paying for your own care. If you ask your insurer to pick up the tab, legally, they gain complete access to your record. Once you grant your therapist permission to contact them, you have given up confidentiality regarding them. Of course, insurers are also required to keep your records private (HIPAA). However, your information may end up being part of a database (MIB) that collects health records from insurance companies.

Practically speaking, the amount of information required by insurers varies considerably. Some only ever ask for a diagnosis and billing information. Others want a lot of specific personal information about your condition and the treatment plan, and expect to dictate the level of and length of care needed. Many experienced therapists avoid dealing with insurance companies like this. That’s why you may find the counselors your friends recommend may not take your insurance.

My problems aren’t a serious medical problem. Should I hold off on counseling until they are?

If that’s the case, it is often a very good idea to spend some money out of your own pocket to get counseling for stress, for relationship problems or to prevent more serious problems. Most healthy people find themselves depressed or anxious at some point. Getting help early can prevent a whole lot of suffering later, and it can help you avoid losing your ability to function at work or home. Short term counseling is no more expensive than, for instance, the 15,000 mile service to your car, a vacation or a new laptop.

I already have a therapist. Can my counseling there be covered by insurance?

You should check with your health insurance plan and with your therapist to see if your treatment can be covered by insurance. Not all plans cover mental health, although any company offering insurance in Chicago or in Illinois must also provide some coverage of mental illnesses.

More Questions?

Call me – Elizabeth Ritzman, LCPC

708-848-9900

Or Email me:

Elizabeth@elizabethritzman.com

Will my health insurance pay for counseling?

Although most providers require you to take ultimate responsibility for paying your bill, health insurance may reimburse you or your healthcare provider for medically necessary treatment for covered, diagnosed conditions that impair your ability to function. They do not generally pay for counseling to relieve stress, enhance or maintain wellbeing or prevent problems down the road.

The exception to this rule is that some employers provide employee assistance programs which offer limited counseling for short term problems or crisis. Often these programs are limited to three sessions and then they refer you on to another provider for further treatment, which, if it is medically necessary may be covered by insurance.

That means you must

• Be diagnosed with a condition that meets the standard diagnostic criteria (these conditions are described in detail in a manual: (DSMIV).
• Be unable to function normally without treatment.
• Receive treatment intended to relieve that condition.

Finally, you must be willing to release that information about yourself to your insurance company and willing to have that information in your permanent medical record.

Whoa…What about confidentiality?

You should have complete confidentiality (assuming you don’t present a threat to yourself or others) if you are paying for your own care. If you ask your insurer to pick up the tab, legally, they gain complete access to your record. Once you grant your therapist permission to contact them, you have given up confidentiality regarding them. Of course, insurers are also required to keep your records private (HIPAA). However, your information may end up being part of a database (MIB) that collects health records from insurance companies.

Practically speaking, the amount of information required by insurers varies considerably. Some only ever ask for a diagnosis and billing information. Others want a lot of specific personal information about your condition and the treatment plan, and expect to dictate the level of and length of care needed. Many experienced therapists avoid dealing with insurance companies like this. That’s why you may find the counselors your friends recommend may not take your insurance.

My problems aren’t a serious medical problem. Should I hold off on counseling until they are?

If that’s the case, it is often a very good idea to spend some money out of your own pocket to get counseling for stress, for relationship problems or to prevent more serious problems. Most healthy people find themselves depressed or anxious at some point. Getting help early can prevent a whole lot of suffering later, and it can help you avoid losing your ability to function at work or home. Short term counseling is no more expensive than, for instance, the 15,000 mile service to your car, a vacation or a new laptop.

I already have a therapist. Can my counseling there be covered by insurance?

You should check with your health insurance plan and with your therapist to see if your treatment can be covered by insurance. Not all plans cover mental health, although any company offering insurance in Chicago or in Illinois must also provide some coverage of mental illnesses.

More Questions?

Call me – Elizabeth Ritzman, LCPC

708-848-9900

Or Email me:

Elizabeth@elizabethritzman.com

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affordable counseling, Counseling, counseling payment, health insurance coverage, mental health, mental health coverage, paying for counseling.

She practices the art and science of psychotherapy which is a form of listening and reflecting that engages our capacity to heal and transform the conditions and problems that undermine our mental health and wellness. It is useful for individuals, families and couples. It creates a safe space where the story of one’s life can unfold and become open for change.

As a health care justice advocate she articulates the moral imperative for faith communities to respond with integrity to the multitude of stigmatized diagnoses and health care gaps facing our poor and disenfranchised neighbors globally and across the Chicago metro area. Her experience has included building services addressing compromised mental health, the HIV epidemic and those facing AIDS, breast cancer, diabetes, asthma, infant mortality and teen pregnancy. She designs and implements model programs integrating spiritual care, mental health, education and community outreach into comprehensive, community based treatment programs.

She is a leader and ally for faith communities seeking to build health ministries and healthy congregations, especially as a response to disparities in resources and outcomes for chronic diseases, mental health and addiction issues and the crisis in access to health care..

A native of rural Kansas, she is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches of the USA, a pastoral counselor and a licensed clinical professional counselor in Illinois. Previously Betsy directed Midwest Resources, a church-based counseling practice with nine locations in metro Chicago and the AIDS Pastoral Care Network at Access Community Health Network.

Eventually, we do need to stop – and finding ways to do that can be very challenging – and consequently many of us fail to find the time, focus or energy to integrate those healthful ways of being into our daily lives.

But what if I told you it takes less than 2 minutes to stop completely and relax your mind, body and spirit? Through the Discipline of 100 Breaths you can disengage from:

Stress                  Fear           Tension         Grief          Anger         Worry

Obsession          Demands of others                 Perfections         Cravings

Anxiety         Hostility         Frustration                  Agitation            Overexcitement

-and whatever else is charging up your inner state.

If you can do three things and ONLY three things you can change your internal state:

1  Find a quiet place to stand, sit or lie down and close your eyes.

2  Take 100 breaths – in and out, in and out. Not fancy deep breaths, -in one second, out the next. They don’t need to be fast, or slow, deep or shallow. Just 100 normal breaths.

3  (Now here’s the hard part) ONLY Breathe. Pay attention to your breathing alone for 100 breaths. No planning, worrying, fretting about one thing or another. Literally for a moment.

That final step is difficult and some of us will fail it – usually because our anxiety is so extreme or our ability to focus is impaired or undisciplined. But if you fail the first time, you can train your brain to cooperate with some practice.

Give it a try – and enjoy your refreshed, calmed state of mind.

I have had the fortune (LOL) to be hiring for several positions in my work life and after a bout of job seeking myself, I have truly been surprised at the lack of sophisticated job seeking many candidates display even at upper levels of professional employment and management. So here are some hints and pet peeves shared from a gratefully employed and now hiring director in the health care field.

If you are fortunate enough to find an open position you want, here’s my suggestions for getting it:

~Have your résumé and your basic cover letter written by a professional.

Unless you are seeking your first job and have a very thin résumé, this is worth the 100.00-300.00 you may spend on it. There are many capable and trained professionals who can convert your worth and experience into very attractive and compelling words with perfect formatting and spelling. They will create an attractive template you can’t mess up, which you can then customize for each job application. Your competitors are likely to have a professionally written résumé so it’s worth every penny for you to do so. When you see their final copy you will be shocked at how fabulous you are. When you customize don’t introduce typos or awkward phrasing. Ask if your résumé writer will proof your edits.

~Mount a campaign, not just a job search.

I knew I was in a category of workers who were in oversupply in my area and who were expensive to hire. This put me in competition with a number of folks who were very experienced, and some who probably had sophisticated outplacement firms working on their behalf. Consider yourself part salesperson, part politician, part professional. You will have to aggressively, yet sensitively work your every single one of your connections. You will have to pitch yourself as a valuable commodity as well as represent yourself as a highly qualified professional – to every body you know.

~Know the company and its leadership.

If you are applying for a job without having read the company’s website shame on you. How hard is it to find a mission statement and use those concepts and words in your cover letter – and hopefully, the interview? Google their leadership, for heavens sake! Go to the library and ask for guidance from the reference desk. With a little Internet browsing, you can easily determine what the concerns, pressures and interests are of the persons who will be receiving your application. Make sure you are able to articulate how hiring you will make the job of fulfilling their mission easier, better, quicker etc. Take it a step further and research their competition.

~Quantify your worth.

Yes – put the numbers to your name on your résumé. Employers now are accountable to demonstrate a financial return on their investment for every position. Detail your worth in dollars on your résumé and quantify your accomplishments. Hiring you should make sense financially. Everyone can list skills and accomplishments but very few people quantify their accomplishments. Simply doing this will pop your résumé into the upper 10% of résumé’s that have crossed my desk. A number is worth a thousand words.

~Get a professional email address.

Bettyboop24@hotmail.com doesn’t sell. Sorry, Betty. Enough said.

~Build your web presence.

Get a Linkedin.com account and build a website, blog in your field. I tried to think of workers who really wouldn’t benefit from this, including my daughter who is a college student and waitress, and I couldn’t come up with anyone. Building a profile on the Internet is easy and essential to serious job seekers. Linkedin.com allows you to work your connections easily. The people you know and the ones they know probably know someone at the company you are interested in working for.

A website under your name and listed on your résumé allows you to offer a great deal more information about yourself than would fit on a résumé or in a cover letter. It proves you are tech savvy. It allows you to profile projects that demonstrate your skills and accomplishments. Personally, I think a professional photo of you on a website allows your potential employer to engage more personally with you and may snag you an interview, if you look happy and engaged in life. A professional photographer can create an attractive image for anyone. Snapshots – no.

~Google yourself. If I’m interviewing you, I will already have done so.

I hope you don’t have a large incriminating footprint on the Internet. If there are a lot of unflattering photos of you tagged on face book, find a way to remove them. Take those personal ads down. Hiring guidelines will not allow employers to ask you a lot of personal questions, but believe me they are interested in the personality of their hires, since temperament and personal style are essential components to a good fit. If you have a troublesome footprint on the web, it may be easier to build more a more positive profile by adding a website than to undergo the stress and hassle of asking webmasters to remove content on you.

~Always follow directions.

If the job posting says send your materials to HR, do that. If you have uncovered the department head’s email or phone number, do not call. How do you think your cheery voicemail to “please call me back, I’m very interested in this position” sounds to a manager who has 50 résumé’s in his inbox daily? You might consider emailing them simply to notify them that you have submitted your materials to HR and are very interested in meeting about the position. Don’t ask questions about the job that would imply they should respond outside the indicated channels. Instead, work your connections in order to obtain a personally facilitated introduction.

~Always label your résumé with your name.

Why do people email HR departments who get hundreds of résumés per day a résumé with the filename “resume” or even cuter “shortresume” or “finaldraftresume” or my favorite: “momsresume”? To me, this demonstrates a lack of imagination about who and what is happening to your materials after they are sent. If you want to be extra considerate, label the file with your lastname and the position name!

~People who know your work and their connections are your most valuable asset.

Take them to lunch, to dinner, buy them a drink. Wash their car. Ask them to introduce you to their contacts, and make sure they are resoundingly thanked when they do. It’s very much better if they do so in person or by phone (not voicemail) or email. Give them a brief script, one or two lines you’d like them to convey about you. Don’t leave it all up to chance and good will. A simple email forwarding your résumé to a colleague of theirs marries their credibility to your pitch and puts you miles ahead.

If your network is too small, expand it. Get involved in trade associations, volunteer in your field, find non-profit boards with professionals in your field who are also board members and get on a committee or on the board itself. Churches, community groups, neighborhood associations are all places you can make connections and showcase your skills. Make sure they all know you are looking. Odds are one of them, and not monster.com will get you your next job.

~Given a choice, email your materials directly instead of submitting them online.

Most online submission forms remove that lovely formatting you paid for and make your résumé and cover letter very hard to read. If the company name is in the posting, odds are the job is posted on their website and you will find a direct email to submit to. The postings on the company website are nearly always more informative than the listing on a third party website where they have to pay for content. And you were going to do research there anyway, right?

~Offer detailed references:

You probably are pretty impressed with your reference list, but I’m not unless you tell me why I should be. A reference list is a commonly neglected opportunity to impress the employer. Beyond listing name and contact info (I always want an email address, by the way – plus any helpful hints on when it’s best to call them) briefly tell me who these people are, what they are currently doing and how they know your work. Employers are often interested not only in your skills, but in what kind of connections you may bring with you.

With the collapse of world markets, war raging in so many parts of the world and unspeakable things happening in so many places near and far it seems that the world as we knew it is coming apart. Calamity and chaos reign.

For many of us, the uncertainty, struggle and suffering is intolerable, and the thought of all this suffering having an instructive or redemptive purpose seems ridiculous. Yet, the long view of history shows us that great things often emerge from such muck. Think about the Dark Ages. Then think Renaissance. After years of pestilence, death and the suppression of the human spirit a resurgence of human enlightenment overtook the world in such a way that we enjoy it even today.

The U.S.’s dominant salvation narrative – the birth of the Christ Child- teaches a similar lesson. In the short view, Jesus’ birth was not much more than a calamity. An illegitimate child was born to a poor teenage mother and her aging husband-to-be, and had the misfortune to alienate the ruling monarch by virtue of the alignment of the stars at his birth, thereby making his family refugees almost as soon as he was born and causing a bloodbath of male babies in his homeland as the king hunted him down.

Simply put, Jesus did not have much of a chance within the existing order of the world when he was born. I think the existing order was simply too “small” for that influx of love.

Perhaps there are times when only calamity and chaos create sufficient room to hold the larger doses of hope and love necessary for the continuing evolution of our creation. I am a witness to the fact that in our own individual lives, there is every hope and possibility that some unimaginable transformation can emerge from destruction and chaos. This is the bittersweet nature of hope.

At your first visit you will be required to sign a statement that you have received information about your rights under HIPAA. This is now a routine practice for all health care visits, including counseling and mental health care. It sets national standards for the use and protection of your confidential health information.

WHAT IS HIPAA?

“HIPAA” is an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (August 21), Public Law 104-191, which amended the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1986. Also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act, the Act includes a section, Title II, entitled Administrative Simplification, requiring:

1. Improved efficiency in healthcare delivery by standardizing electronic data interchange, and
2. Protection of confidentiality and security of health data through setting and enforcing standards.

More specifically, HIPAA called upon the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish new rules that will ensure:

1. Standardization of electronic patient health, administrative and financial data
2. Unique health identifiers for individuals, employers, health plans and health care providers
3. Security standards protecting the confidentiality and integrity of “individually identifiable health information,” past, present or future.

Who is affected? Virtually all healthcare organizations – including all healthcare providers, health plans, public health authorities, healthcare clearinghouses, and self-ensured employers – as well as life insurers, information systems vendors, various service organizations, and universities.

Are there penalties? HIPAA calls for severe civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance.

How does this affect my counseling? We meet the compliance requirements for HIPPA which include:

• Comprehensive assessment of our business privacy practices, information security systems and procedures, and use of electronic transactions.
• Our electronic billing service is secure and HIPPA compliant. If you wish you may opt out of e-commerce by asking our front desk staff. Infrequently, and only at the request and initiation of clients I will respond to emails. Our policies, processes, and procedures are intended to protect privacy, security and patients’ rights.

• Our business associate agreements support HIPAA objectives.
• We are developing and maintaining a secure technical and physical information infrastructure.
• We update information systems to safeguard protected health information (PHI) and enable use of standard claims and related transactions.
• We train all workforce members on HIPPA.
• We have developed and maintain an internal privacy and security management and enforcement infrastructure, including providing a Privacy Officer and a Security Officer, Dr. Cheryl Haugh 831 South Oak Park Ave. Oak Park IL 60304 (708) 848-9900.

More information about HIPPA is available at www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/

Pastoral counselors practice respect for the faith traditions and perspectives of others and refrain from imposing their own beliefs as a standard to be met. Part of their work is to listen with heightened sensitivity to the language of their clients and help them discern the central themes of meaning, belief and values that become apparent in their lives. This happens both with and without the explicit use of religious language. Have you noticed that sometimes the most faith-filled people are those who show a profound generosity of spirit without needing to use any religious language at all?

Identifying those central beliefs, meanings and values creates a deep resource for struggling with and resolving the many questions that bring people to therapy.

Christian counseling is different from pastoral counseling, because it defines belief in Christ as a standard to be met. Christian counseling and Spiritual Direction are faith practices that presume a faith language and draw from it’s resources for growth and healing. Still, it is important to find a practitioner who will refrain from imposing their own personal beliefs as a standard to met in the helping relationship.

The introductory session will give you an opportunity to get to know how the therapist works and to share your concerns with them. In my practice, I spend a few minutes up front clarifying the basic expectations of therapy by putting them in writing (see new patient info) and discussing any questions that you might have about confidentiality, payment etc. Then I ask some basic questions that are geared toward helping us both assess what you need from therapy and whether I can provide it. I might say “what brings you in right now?” or something similar to help you explain why you are coming in and clarify what you need. If you are coming as a family or couple, I will ask each person to respond. Also, I invite you to ask any questions at any time about me and my practice.

Therapy is not intended to be a mystery. All questions and concerns are a welcomed and important part of the healing process. If I can’t responsibly commit to providing the help we decide that you need, it becomes my responsibility to help you find it elsewhere. So, I am very grateful to have a broad network of colleagues in the area to for referral and consultation.