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For new patients

Overview

This page has information for new patients. Prospective patients should look under For prospective patients. Current patients should look under For current patients.

About your first visit

Your first visit will probably take an hour and a half. We usually begin with you telling me about the difficulties you are having, then I review your first visit form, then I get some more background history, and finally we decide together on what we should do next.

Your first visit is a consultation, meaning that I need to understand what your difficulty is, whether I think I can help, and whether or not we both feel that we can work together. If I do not think that I am qualified to treat you myself, I will help you find someone who is.

About cancellations

If you cannot make your appointment, please let me know at least 48 hours in advance. I almost always have a waiting list of new patients who want to be seen as soon as possible and I don't have many 90 minute blocks of time in my schedule. I have no office staff, and it is hard for me to reschedule someone else into your scheduled time without 48 hours notice. Please be considerate of my time and that of other patients.

Before you begin ...

Be sure to read:

Learn about your privacy ...

If you have Medicare, please ...

  • Download and complete the Medicare opt-out form.

Please ...

Please ...

  • Obtain a referral from your doctor and have him or her complete the referral form.

To save you time and money ...

  • Download and complete the first visit form and the HIPAA (privacy) form. Doing so before your appointment streamlines the routine paperwork that we must do the first session and lets us spend more time focused on you and why you came to see me and not on recording things like your telephone numbers, doses of current medications, and allergies.

Finally ...

  • Bring all the completed forms to your first visit. (Please do not mail or email them to me.)

Forms

You can download any of these forms in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format. If your browser prompts you to save the file, save it somewhere on your computer where you can find it and print it out.

General Forms

Form
First Visit
HIPAA
Insurance consent form
Medicare
Referral form
Release for medical records to Dr. Barta
Release for medical records from Dr. Barta
Telepsychiatry consent

Symptom Assessment Forms (Follow up visits)

Clicking on a link below will download an Adobe Acrobat (pdf) form. You should fill out the Routine Screening form before each follow up visit.

Form
Routine screening form

If you have one of the diagnoses below and are having symptoms, please fill out the appropriate form below too. If not, you don't need to fill out any forms other than the Routine Screening form.

Form
Acute stress
Agoraphobia
Depression
Dissociative disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder
Panic disorder
Phobias
PTSD
Separation anxiety
Social anxiety

Billing

I don't send bills. I ask to be paid by check or credit card at the time of service.

Payment accepted

I accept personal checks, Visa, Mastercard, Discovery and Mastercard. For security reasons, my billing system does not retain any of your credit card information. I would prefer that you not pay in cash because I would rather not have currency in my office.

Rates

Basically, I charge for the time that I see you during your session, and some of the time when you ask me to do work for your outside your session.

I do not publish my session fees on the Internet, but would be happy to discuss them with you over the phone.

I adjust my fees for sessions on a yearly basis. Any sessions not paid for at the time of service will be charged an additional $10 per half hour of my time.