Psychotherapy, or “talk therapy,” is a form of treatment offered by mental health professionals with different training backgrounds, certifications and licenses. These include clinical psychologists with a doctorate (PhD, PsyD or EdD), counseling psychologists (MS, MEd or other masters-level degree), medical social workers (MSW), clinical nurse specialists (RN, CNS, NP, APRN) and counselors with training and certification in marriage and family therapy (various degrees). To treat patients, these clinicians must be licensed in the state where they practice. Fees vary by the type of therapist, the extent of their training, and their years of experience.
Health insurance companies will pay for or reimburse care provided by their approved network providers (clinicians) who have been credentialed by the plan and enrolled in their provider panels. Those lists are maintained on the member services website for each plan and are updated regularly. However, the provider lists may not be current with regard to whether a provider is accepting new patients.
Some insurance plans require that a patient seeking care be treated by a select subset of clinicians who have been credentialed by the insurer and approved to provide treatment for their members. In such cases, if your plan requires that you see an “in network provider,” that means you will need to see a clinician who has been identified as eligible to treat you. But there are still easy ways to find a therapist who will work with your insurance:
1. You should first check the online provider network directory provided by your insurance plan to assist you in finding a psychiatrist in their network. Keep in mind that psychiatrists don’t only prescribe medication; the best psychiatrists integrate psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. Their medical training as well as the training they receive in various types of psychotherapy makes them especially well-suited for the treatment of MindBody problems and the interaction between chronic medical conditions and mental disorders such as anxiety and depression.
2. Another option is to call the Member Services number listed on your insurance card and ask them to provide you with several names of therapists in their network directory. The directory often does not tell you whether or not the therapist is currently taking new patients or when their next appointment opening might be: for this information, you must call the psychiatrist directly.
3. Sometimes you may have to call several therapists before you can reach someone who is accepting new patients. If you cannot locate anyone, call member services and let them know that despite many calls to therapists in their network, you have been unable to find anyone with whom you can make an appointment. Your insurer’s contract with you requires that they provide you with a therapist. You can ask them to help you find someone who is accepting patients. If they are not helpful, health insurers are regulated by the Department of Insurance in your state. If necessary, you can seek help from the office of the insurance commissioner.
4. Another way to find a therapist who accepts your insurance and has an appointment available is to use a website called ZocDoc (www.zocdoc.com ). ZocDoc is a free matching service for patients that enables you to search for a medical or behavioral health specialist by zip code (or town/state), the name of your insurance company, and the type of plan you have. When you enter your personal information, you will be presented with links to clinicians within a specified distance of your home or office who accept your insurance and who offer open appointment times in their calendar. An important thing to note is that clinicians are invited to join ZocDoc because they have been listed in magazines and on websites like Boston Magazine, US News, and World Report. You can check out these profiles with a simple Google search. Psychologists and social workers who offer psychotherapy are also listed in ZocDoc.
5. Yet another way to find a therapist is to ask your primary care doctor (PCP). Because of the prevalence of mental disorders in primary care practices (roughly 1/3 of all patients), most PCPs have developed relationships with mental health clinicians in the community with whom they share the care of patients. Thus, it is likely that they can refer you to someone they know and trust.
6. If your employer has an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), they may also be able to help refer you to a therapist with whom they collaborate. If you are a student, the university health service will have therapists on staff and can also refer you to clinicians in the local community.
7. If your employer has a contract with a mental health provider network or organization like Ginger or Headspace Health, you can get that information from Human Resources or Employee Health and often free evaluation and free care is available for a number of sessions that vary according the employee benefit. Many large national employers offer plans like this though affiliated telemedicine or telemental health organizations.
You may be search for a therapist who specializes in a particular type of therapy. Therapists are not necessarily expert in a variety of different treatment approaches but rather most tend to specialize in one type or another. Broadly speaking, appointments are conducted as individual therapies, group therapies, or family or couples therapies. The different types of psychotherapy include:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Problem Solving Therapy (PST)
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Hypnotherapy
If you are a patient seeking a clinician who offers one of these specific types of therapy, it can be challenging to find someone who is good at it. Since a state license to provide therapy usually does not specify which modes of psychotherapy you are permitted to offer, some clinicians may advertise that they offer a number of special treatments but lack serious expertise. The best way to increase the likelihood that a therapist you are considering has subspecialty expertise in one of these specific modalities of psychotherapy is to check the website of a professional organization dedicated to that type of treatment. You can generally search the membership list if they have a “therapist finder” feature on their website.
Once you have identified people who claim to provide a certain type of treatment, how can you determine the quality of their care? One way is to look them up on PubMed, Amazon, or Google to see if they have published books, chapters, or scientific articles in their area of expertise. Experts in their field usually have 20 or more publications. Another way is to check the website of a professional organization dedicated to that type of treatment and see if they are associated.
