Medical Records

Peter ForsterAbout GPS, Best Practices

As many of you may know, either as a patient in our clinic or by reviewing the information on our website, we pride ourselves in our comprehensive and thorough assessment process. We use the information gathered during this phase to understand the problems that are bringing someone to see us and to develop an individualized treatment plan based on her/his …

Treatment History Records Retrieval

Kelsey SchraufnagelAbout GPS, Best Practices, Costs of Treatment, General, GPS Update

As many of you may know, either as a patient in our clinic or by reviewing the information on our website, we pride ourselves in our comprehensive and thorough assessment process. We use the information gathered during this phase to understand the problems that are bringing someone to see us and to develop an individualized treatment plan based on her/his …

Pre visit Questionnaire

Peter ForsterAbout GPS, Best Practices

For more than a year we’ve been sending out reminders about future appointments along with a link to a pre-visit survey form. The idea for doing this originally came from new documentation requirements that were embedded in a revision of the standard billing codes for psychiatry a couple of years ago. We realize that the new documentation requirements would take …

Frequency of Visits

Peter ForsterAbout GPS, Best Practices, Costs of Treatment

The frequency of visits to the clinic can be a source of considerable irritation. Why do we recommend that people come in once a week, or once every two weeks, or once a month, or less often? A wonderful young man I have been seeing for several years got very angry when I replied to his request to reschedule his appointment …

LOCUS and Level of Care

Peter ForsterBest Practices, Costs of Treatment

LOCUS© and CALOCUS© instruments were developed by the American Association of Community Psychiatrists (AACP). They are clinical tools that evaluate and determine level of care placements for psychiatric and addiction services for both adult and child/adolescent populations. We use these tools when we are working with the patient or family who is seriously symptomatic, failing to improve despite aggressive outpatient treatment, …