951-533-9993
Adult Psychiatry: Â medication mgt, psychotherapy, & integration with faith & philosophy
Initial Psychiatric Exam
Required for patients who have never been seen before by Dr. Firnberg
Service Description
For your initial exam, please schedule a 2-hour time-slot, in order to provide plenty of time for a history, signing documents, and teaching about medications, side effects, etc. Prior to the initial exam, please see your primary care provider (PCP, "family doctor," or "general practitioner") for an annual physical exam & routine lab tests. This is important because many psychiatric illnesses can be caused by general medical problems -- for instance, hypothyroidism commonly causes depression. If such general medical problems are screened and treated, then psychiatric treatment might be unnecessary. A psychiatrist actually may not properly render a valid psychiatric diagnosis until general medical causes have been ruled out. Please bring copies of any recent lab reports from tests to the initial exam, along with any bottles of non-psychiatric medications. Also, bring the names and contact information of any other doctors whom you are seeing. To make an appointment for your initial exam, please go to www.Schedulicity.Com, and search for my name, "Thomas L Firnberg MD," and indicate the city as "Breckenridge, Colorado." This is a temporary office location, since my practice is currently in process of relocating -- I currently have medical licenses, in CA, CO, MT, WY, and ID. Then schedule for a 2-hour time in any available time-slot. At this time, I am offering sessions only by video conference. I recommend that you sign up for either www.Signal.com, or www.Telegram.com, since only these two video services meet the confidentiality standards of HIPAA. I subscribe to a card processing service which accepts debit or credit cards (VISA, MasterCard, & Am Express). Personal checks will not be accepted for the initial exam, but later, if trust develops, personal checks could be acceptable. Two payment plans are available for the initial exam: a) the "Full Payment Plan," for those who can pay the full amount of $200.--. Its advantages are: (1) discounts for counseling (see under counseling); (2) any out-of-session tasks are billed at the regular rate. b) the "Sliding Scale Payment Plan," for the patient who is not able to pay full price, and involves simply negotiating a price to which both parties can agree. Any tasks done for the patient outside of session are billed at TWICE the sliding scale rate. But true emergency calls are free for all patients.