THE HAPPINESS PSYCHIATRIST®:
SHEENIE AMBARDAR, M.D.

Concierge Telepsychiatry, Teletherapy, Medical Weight Care & Coaching

(424) 666-8058

www.happinesspsychiatrist.com

Serving California and New York

• Missed or Cancelled Appointments with less than 48 Business Hours Notice: Should you need to cancel a session, please do so at least 48 business hours (2 business days) in advance. Otherwise, the time you have booked will not be scheduled for another patient and you will be automatically charged the full fee for the missed session.

  

• Medication Refills: Please be aware that one of the main purposes of an appointment is to ensure that you have enough medication to last until your next visit. Therefore you will generally not need to call our office to request refills as you will already have enough medication to last until your next appointment. In order to continue to receive medication, you will need to be seen for an appointment every month in order to review progress, side effects, update labs, and make any additional adjustments. There will be a $55 charge for all prescriptions mailed out between appointments or for any prescription refills or new prescriptions ordered between appointments. This policy is to encourage all patients to keep their monthly appointments and to ask for refills or discuss any medication changes during office visits. In addition, please do not wait until you are out of medication to request refills or an appointment- we will need at least 3 days to refill any prescriptions and we cannot guarantee that an appointment will be available immediately.

 

• Controlled Substances: Please note that prescriptions for federally controlled substances such as Adderall, Concerta, and Vyvanse, and for potentially addictive substances such as Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin, and Valium, are monitored closely by Dr. Ambardar. You will only be given a 30 day supply of these medications and refills require an appointment.

 

• Late Arrivals: If you are late for your online session, you will only be seen for the remainder of the time left in your appointment time slot. Since you will nevertheless be charged for the full amount of the session, it is to your advantage to be on time for all sessions. Should you log in more than 15 minutes late for a medication visit or more than 30 minutes late for a therapy visit, you will be asked to reschedule so that an appropriate amount of time and attention may be devoted to your care. You will still be responsible for payment of the missed session.

 

• Patient Payment Obligation: Please note that in order to provide you with the highest-quality personalized service, Dr. Ambardar does not contract with any insurance providers. All services are paid for in full by the client via credit, debit, or HSA/FSA card. If requested, Dr. Ambardar will be happy to provide you with a reimbursement form or “superbill” which you can present to your insurance provider in order to seek partial reimbursement for psychiatric services rendered. If you plan to use your insurance benefits, it is in your best interest to check with your insurance provider prior to your first appointment in order to understand the full details of your out-of-network mental health benefits. Our office has also partnered with Reimbursify, an easy-to-use service that helps you get reimbursed quickly and reliably directly from your insurance company. 

 

• Urgent or Emergency Situations: If you are feeling acutely suicidal or homicidal or are in any other life-threatening emergency situation, please call Dr. Ambardar at (424) 666-8058, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and leave a detailed message describing your situation. Dr. Ambardar will get back to you as soon as possible. If you cannot wait for a call back from Dr. Ambardar, please call 911 immediately or go to your nearest Emergency Room. You may also call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), which is a confidential U.S. hotline staffed by trained mental health counselors, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

  

• E-mail Communications: While Dr. Ambardar is readily available to her patients via email, please be aware that you should not use e-mail for complicated medical and/or psychiatric concerns or urgent/emergency situations. Dr. Ambardar's confidential e-mail is HIPAA-compliant and securely encrypted. Your e-mail correspondence with Dr. Ambardar will become a part of your medical record. Any information contained in e-mail messages from Dr. Ambardar is intended solely for the addressee unless otherwise explicitly stated and may contain information that is confidential, privileged, or otherwise protected from disclosure under applicable law. If you are an unintended recipient of any e-mail from our office, you are hereby notified that you have received the document in error and that any review, distribution, or copying of the transmission is strictly prohibited. If this is the case, please notify us immediately by calling (424) 666-8058 and return the original message to us by e-mail prior to destroying all copies on your system.

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