Appointments
Reminders: When you schedule an appointment, you will receive an email and text message from Simple Practice. You will receive reminders 48 and 96 hours before the appointment via email and text consecutively. You can also log into Simple Practice to view your appointments.
Late cancellations or no-shows fees: To cancel an appointment, you may do so via Simple Practice up to 48 hours on business days before your scheduled time. Cancellations made after this period are considered late, and you should email us to request it. Late cancellations or no-shows fees are NOT covered by insurance, and a private pay rate may apply. If you can briefly attend the appointment, your visit might not need to be considered a late cancellation or no-show. If you make an urgent appointment for an earlier date, you must manually cancel any pre-existing future appointments to avoid an accidental no-show fee.)
Online appointment booking is available, but limited.
Checking time is 5 min before the appointment, not sooner or later, to give Dr. Sid enough reminder to wrap up the other visits.
Length of sessions: Short visits are 10 min guaranteed, long visits are 20 min guaranteed. But they both can go longer based on the availability and clinical needs.
State Residency Boundaries: You need to be a WA state resident and also be physically in WA state to be able to see me. If you are traveling out of state, you need to reschedule your appointment with more than 48 hour notice during business days.
Medications
New medications: All new medications should be taken after dinner unless otherwise instructed. If a medication interferes with your sleep, consider taking it in the morning after breakfast. If a new medication causes severe side effects, you may discontinue it and notify me via email.
Discarding medications: To keep our water and environment clean and homes safe, please discard unused medications only at designated pharmacies or police departments. For example, you can use the Walgreens Pharmacy near Kirkland Costco or visit the following link for disposal locations: Drug Disposal Locations.
Medication Refills Outside of Office Visits:
Controlled substances will not be refilled outside of appointments, even if prescriptions are lost. This includes benzodiazepines, hypnotics, analgesics, and stimulants.
Prescriptions for other medications refilled outside of appointments incur a fee for each medication. Email me (do not use voicemail) for refill requests. Please include medication names, frequency, required doses and number of pills, pharmacy contact information, and acknowledge that there is a fee for the refill.
To avoid out-of-pocket expenses for refills:
Keep your follow up appointments.
Ask for a refill during the visits.
If you cancel your appointment, schedule one very soon to avoid delaying your refill.
If you fail making an appointment and are low in your meds, call us to schedule a refill appointment, which is usually within a week.
The patients’ refill requests are processed with a 48 hour turnaround time on weekdays. As this is a solo practice with no nursing staff to process refill requests, alternative options may include requesting a few tablets from the pharmacy or urgent care clinicians to bridge the gap.
Pharmacies should not fax or send refill requests. Avoid setting up automatic or regular refills through pharmacies, as this may delay your refill request.
Refills are typically written for one month, unless a prior agreement is in place. If you have not been seen in three months or do not have an upcoming appointment, medications will not be refilled until a new appointment is scheduled.
Schedule follow-up appointments promptly to avoid running low on medications.
Group Therapy Patients:
- Cancellation: A commitment to therapy and your growth is key to success. While enrolled in group therapy, you are responsible for the fee. This policy differs from the individual appointment policy. Insurance cannot be charged for missed sessions, and you are responsible for payment regardless of the reason for cancellation, whether it is an emergency, non-emergency, or if you have provided notice. Your presence in the group is unique, and no one can replace your spot if you miss a session. As with rent, course classes, or club membership dues, payment is required for the full package of sessions whether you attend or miss. This ensures group expenses are covered even if members are absent and that everyone in the group has the same financial investment, regardless of sessions missed. Please direct any questions about the schedule, fees, or other group-related matters to me, not the front desk.
- Double Appointments on the Same Day: Insurance typically does not cover the group therapy fee if you have an individual session on the same day. It is the patient’s responsibility to be aware of this to avoid out-of-pocket costs for group therapy.