Speciality Care.

• While many psychiatrists are qualified to treat common challenges such as anxiety or depression, if you are interested in working with a specialist to address a specific challenge, you should consider looking out-of-network. Private pay psychiatrists often have additional training or specialization. Dr. Frische has extensive training in women's mood disorders, treatment resistant depression, and working with professionals and burnout. She is also a conservative prescriber meaning that she takes a wholistic view of the patient and makes all attempts to maximize one medication before adding others and aims for the lowest effective doses of medications and trying non-addictive and non-habit-forming medications first.

Highly Personalized Services.

• If a psychiatrist isn’t constrained by only providing services they can bill to an insurance company, they are often able to spend more time and individually create the perfect treatment plan for you. They can offer longer or more frequent sessions than insurance might cover. This may allow you to feel more comfortable, less rushed and able to have all of your questions and concerns addressed. Dr. Frische makes herself readily available to her patients when needed.

Insurance Plans: high deductible plan or good out-of-network benefits

• A deductible is the amount you have to pay upfront before your insurance coverage takes effect. If you have a $3,000 deductible and you haven’t had any other medical expenses yet in the year, you are responsible for paying up to $3,000 in fees out-of-pocket before your standard copay applies.

• On the other hand, if you have out-of-network benefits, your insurance company may reimburse you as much as 80% of each session fee, depending on your plan and cost of the appointments. This means that in some situations, using your out-of-network benefits can actually be very comparable to your standard copay to see an in-network psychiatrist.

Ultimate Privacy.

• If you want full discretion, or otherwise do not want your insurance company knowing you are seeing a psychiatrist, you might consider paying out-of-pocket for greater privacy. In order for your insurance to pay for therapy sessions, psychiatrists are required to provide the company information regarding your sessions, including a diagnostic code. If you don’t want your insurance company to have access to any information about your mental health, consider out-of-network options.

• Dr. Frische documents only what she must for legal purposes, maintaining your complete privacy where possible. She uses a small electronic medical record system that is NOT automatically accessible by anyone other than the patient and provider.

Timely Care.

• Most private practice psychiatric providers in the Triangle Area choose not to accept insurances, and those who do tend be extremely full. For many patients trying to use their insurance, it can be very difficult to find a psychiatrist who is in-network and accepting new patients. If you limit your search by insurance, you may have to spend months on a waitlist before seeing a doctor.

• Private pay psychiatrists, like Dr. Frische, tend to have more availability and greater flexibility in scheduling new clients. In some cases, Dr. Frische will help a new patient get stabilized over three or four office visits. Later on, if cost becomes prohibitive, Dr. Frische can help transfer them to an in-network psychiatrist to continue their care once they are already doing well.

Relationships Matter.

• At the end of the day, your relationship with your psychiatrist is one of the most important aspects of the healing process. If you only consider in-network options, you might eliminate a psychiatrist who would be a really good fit for you and maybe help you feel better faster.