Additional Information about Fees, Services, and Insurance Cost of Sessions: Intake and therapy sessions are conducted for forty-five minutes unless otherwise arranged in advance. The initial intake fee is $200.00.  A fee of $145.00 per forty-five minute session is charged for most other services including Individual, Couple, and Family Therapy.  However, if you are covered by a “preferred provider” or managed care insurance plan with which Dr. Nix is contracted, the specific fees for services are determined by contract, and may vary from the usual and customary fees listed above. If Dr. Nix is a contracted provider for your insurance plan, payment is expected at the time of service for all portions of the contracted fee that are determined by insurance to be the responsibility of the client, including co-payments, coinsurance amounts, and deductibles.  If your insurance plan is not one with which Dr. Nix is contracted, payment of the full fee is expected at the time of service.  However, upon request, Dr. Nix can still routinely bill your insurance as a courtesy, and any fees that your insurance pays will normally be sent directly to the insurance subscriber.  Insurance billing is normally submitted electronically on the date of service, so direct billing of insurance by Dr. Nix is generally the most efficient way to insure timely reimbursement to clients who do not have insurances with which she is contracted.  Client payments may be made in cash, by personal check, or by MasterCard/Visa.                                 Insurance: Dr. Nix’s services are usually covered by virtually any insurance plan that has “out of network” benefits, including the State of Washington Uniform Medical Plan, and most Regence Blue Shield plans.  She is a contracted Provider with Premera, Providence,  & Medicare*.   Former clients covered by Regence or Uniform Medical should note that Dr. Nix is no longer a Preferred Provider, but that a significant portion of her fee is still covered by these plans.  If you have questions about these contract changes, additional information and background is available at UMP/Regence Changes and UMP FAQ'S.  Please note that Dr. Nix does not accept Labor and Industries, Crime Victim's Compensation, or Tricare. Dr. Nix is also a provider with First Choice Health Network, but payers using this provider network vary quite dramatically in what is covered and whether they use behavioral health providers within the First Choice Network. Prospective clients need to contact their insurance carrier to verify mental health benefits, and whether Dr. Nix is a covered provider.   If you are covered by Sound Health & Wellness (formerly Retail Clerks), please note that they have a strict limit to what they will pay, and that they have a history of inconsistencies in what they will cover.  Although the plan states that they will pay 85% of the allowable charges, they have a strict maximum of $50 per visit.  They also reserve the right to arbitrarily determine what diagnoses they will cover, and historically, they have at times refused payment for issues that are routinely covered by other insurances.  As a result, Dr. Nix cannot guarantee that they will cover her services.   If your insurance plan requires pre-authorization, it is your responsibility to arrange this prior to the first appointment with Dr. Nix.     For more detailed information about insurance coverage and the questions that clients need to ask when making inquiries about insurance coverage, please see “Tips for Determining Mental Health Benefits” in the “Downloadable Forms” section of this website. Dr. Nix does not routinely bill any secondary insurance plans with which she is not contracted.  There are a few exceptions to this policy, however, and Dr. Nix can routinely provide clients with the necessary documentation to submit claims directly to their insurance carrier. Please note that Medicare does automatically forward secondary billing to some supplemental plans.  If you have a Medicare supplemental policy, please contact your insurance carrier directly to determine whether your plan is one to which Medicare automatically forwards secondary claims.  *Currently, Dr. Nix is not taking any new clients who are covered by Medicare.  Low reimbursement levels and significant administrative problems in billing Medicare as a secondary form of coverage are the primary considerations in limiting Medicare clients at this time.