FAQ's about the Good Faith Estimate (GFE)

 The GFE form is an estimate of your therapy costs over the course of a year.  It is a simple calculation of the session rate multiplied by the number of possible sessions in the calendar year (Typically 52 for weekly sessions, 26 for every other week, or 12 for monthly) .  At Empowering Families, we is base the GFE on the frequency of sessions at the time the document is made.  Due to the unpredictable nature of therapy, this GFE does not predict how this frequency could change over the year, therefore the GFE is meant to show the most that someone would pay for services. 

Due to unfair medical billing practices, the United States passed the No Surprises act in 2022.  This act requires medical and mental health  practitioners to provide a Good Faith Estimate for services that are not covered through their insurance benefits.   If you are using out of network (OON) services, it is required that your therapist provide you with a Good Faith Estimate every year. 

Ideally, you will receive a GFE as a part of your initial paperwork.  After that, the GFE should be updated yearly or whenever significant billing changes are made.  To streamline this, a new GFE will be provided at the end of each calendar year regardless of when you started with Empowering Families.  This is also typically when rates may increase.  An additional GFE may also be provided if the need for therapeutic services increases.  For example, a new GFE would be written if we decide to increase sessions from every-other-week to weekly.  

 No.  The GFE should not be perceived as a clinical recommendation.  It is very difficult to predict when and how a person’s therapeutic needs will change over an entire year.  At Empowering Families, we base the GFE solely on the current level of functioning.  There is a very small chance that the session frequency will increase if, for example, the client experiences a significant traumatic experience.  This is very uncommon!  More likely, session frequency will decrease over the course of the year.   

 No. You have no obligation to continue your work with Empowering Families for any reason.  Legally, you may stop therapy at any time, though ethically and clinically we always recommend a planned final session before we end therapy.  The GFE does not change this in any way.    

 Legally, your costs should not exceed your GFE by more than $400 by the end of the year.  At Empowering Families, we design the GFE to be an over estimate of your costs.  Most likely your costs will be lower than your GFE states.  This is not a problem.  In the unlikely event that we decide to increase your session frequency, I will send you a new GFE that includes your additional costs.   

Please contact Gina Hebb at 303-704-8046 or email at ginahebb@empowermyfamily.com