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Arista: The Origin Story

Happy Sunday!

So this week, I’m going I tell you about how Dr. G started her 3 office counseling and psychotherapy private practice. Dr. G was a school psychologist for a while, but knew she wanted to broaden her horizons. She earned her PhD at NYU and opened her first office for outpatient care. After seeing much success, Dr. G decided to open a second office. And eventually a third at her residence. Now, Dr. G splits here time between her three offices and with her teaching position at Mt. Sinai as a psychology professor. I am fully convinced that this woman does not require sleep or rest like the rest of us. She actually does it all. I have not encountered work ethic like this in my life!

One of the issues that we have seen a good amount of in the office involves patients racking up not paying for their visits. Obviously, this is really, REALLY not ok and something that I imagine is not unique to this specific psychology/psychiatry office. To counter this, I have been drafting collection letters of varying degrees of severity. I’ve also written a new policy agreement for patients to sign so that they are fully aware of the consequences of untimely payment. Clearly, this is not an issue for most patients, but there is a good amount of patients who simply refuse to acknowledge that the level of care Dr. G provides requires a fee of which all parties have agreed to prior to scheduling an appointment. For example, another psychologist who has been seeing Dr. G tried to fight with me over the phone about paying her outstanding balance of $26…… yes, a mere $26.

Hopefully, returning to work this Monday the office dog will be back in! JJ is a local celebrity in the office building. She’s a 2 year old English bulldog who likes to sleep on our feet while we work. Last week, she wasn’t doing too well, but my fingers are crossed.