Office & Financial Policies

Guardians are required to bring their child into the office for their appointment and check in with the front desk staff. Please do not drop your child off and have them come in on their own. Speech treatment sessions are typically 30 minutes in length and OT/PT appointments are typically 60 minutes in length. If the scheduled appointment is longer than 30 minutes, guardians may leave the office but must return at least 5 minutes prior to the appointment end. If it is a 30 minute appointment, we ask that you remain at the office. The safety of our patients is of utmost importance to us and therapists and front desk staff cannot be responsible for watching the children before or after their session.

All copays and private-pay payments are due at the time of service.

If you have an unmet insurance deductible or a family coinsurance, we will bill your insurance first and then bill you for any amount applied to your deductible. Payment in full is expected monthly.

We will monitor balances on a monthly basis. If we feel a balance is too high or consistent payments are not being made, you may be asked to put services on hold until you are able to catch up on your balance. In turn, you may lose your reserved appointment time.

No Surprises Act – Good Faith Estimate

You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) explaining how much your medical care will cost. Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who do not have insurance or those who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical services. You have the right to receive a GFE for the total expected cost of any non-emergency services that includes costs like medical tests and treatment fees. Make sure your health care provider gives you or you can ask for a GFE in writing before your medical service(s) begin. If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your GFE, you can dispute the bill. Be sure to save a copy or picture of your GFE. For questions or more information about your right to a GFE, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call 1-800-985-3059

All charges on your account are your responsibility, whether or not they are covered by or paid by your insurance company. We will submit claims to your insurance company as a courtesy to you as long as we have your complete information. Our financial relationship is with you, not with your insurance company. We will call your insurance company to verify benefits but please note they will only provide a quote of benefits and will never guarantee coverage. We encourage you to check your own benefits as well. Coverage for therapy is often diagnosis driven so it’s important to verify if there are any diagnosis exclusions on your policy, although some companies will not provide this detailed information and simply state that services are based on medical necessity. In the event your insurance company denies coverage, we will adjust the charges on your account to our private-pay rate and bill you directly.

Cancellation with 24+ Hours Given:

• Reschedule the appointment if possible
• If attendance falls below 80% based on the last 10 visits:
  • First time – verbal/email reminder provided
  • Second/subsequent – subject to $30 frequent cancellation fee due at the next visit unless a make-up session is rescheduled prior to the next visit (fee is due if LLA has no availability for reschedule). If you have a credit card on file with LLA, the fee will be automatically charged.
  • Third time – subject to removal from schedule

Day of Appointment Cancellation (Less than 24 Hours):

• Reschedule the appointment if possible
• If attendance falls below 80% based on the last 10 visits:
  • First time – one free, same day emergency cancellation per quarter; verbal/email reminder provided
  • Second/subsequent – subject to a $30 frequent cancellation fee due at the next visit unless a make-up session is rescheduled prior to the next visit (fee is due if LLA has no availability for reschedule). If you have a credit card on file with LLA, the fee will be automatically charged.
  • Third time – subject to removal from schedule

Appointment No Show:

• $30 no show fee due at the next visit unless a make-up session is scheduled prior to the next appointment (fee is due if LLA has no availability for reschedule). If you have a credit card on file with LLA, the fee will be automatically charged.
• 80% or less attendance (including no shows and cancellations), subject to removal from schedule.

Missed Appointments Have Adverse Consequences

• Continuity of care: missed appointments can lead to regression, lack of progress, extended treatment time, and inconsistent rapport between client and therapist.
• Appointment times are valuable: There is a shortage of therapists and a wait list of people seeking services that would attend appointments.
• When appointments are missed, company revenue is lost, which leads to a potential increase in fees passed to clients.

We encourage you to reschedule missed appointments since all of our therapists have access to previous records. ALL cancellations and reschedules must be handled directly by the Office Staff. Call 330-867-2240.

If you are late for an appointment for any reason, we will still honor your appointment, but please note that we will still need to end your appointment at the originally scheduled time and we will still bill for the full session.

Therapy equipment is intended to be used by the therapist and the child they are treating. For safety and liability reasons, all children other than the patient (such as siblings, etc), are prohibited from using/playing with the equipment.

We encourage parents to observe therapy sessions in order to learn strategies to take home, however, it is not required. If the therapist feels that having the parent present in the therapy room may be affecting the behavior or attention of the child, they may respectfully ask that the parent remain in the waiting area during treatment sessions.