Outpatient Providers

  1. Are you accepting new patients? When is your first availability?
  2. Do you offer virtual or in-person sessions?
  3. If you offer virtual appointments, which states are you licensed in (virtually)
  4. What is your appointment availability? How long does an appointment last?
  5. What kind of professional training do you have? In eating disorders specifically? Education? Licenses? Are you a certified eating disorder specialist?
  6. How much experience have you had working with eating disorders?
  7. What percentage of your practice is devoted to individuals with eating disorders?
  8. What do you charge for a session? Do you offer a sliding scale rate? If not, will you provide a receipt for out of network reimbursement?
  9. Do you take insurance? If so, which plans? Do you accept Medicare/Medicaid?
  10. What if I do not have insurance or mental health benefits under my health care plan?
  11. How are family members included in the treatment process? What role do you believe family members should play?
  12. How are individual treatment goals and objectives determined?
  13. How do you determine what treatment regimen I need?
  14. What is your therapeutic approach (CBT, FBT, DBT, ACT)?
  15. Do you work with a treatment team?
  16. How do you define recovery and incorporate this philosophy into your treatment approach?
  17. Are you LGBTQ+ affirmative?
  18. Do you have experience with specific populations and/or comorbid diagnoses (e.g. LGBTQ+, athletes, trauma, etc.)
  19. What medical information do you need? Will I need a medical evaluation before entering your care?
  20. How often will we be meeting? Do you have availability to increase frequency of appointments, if necessary?

Treatment Programs

  1. What is the average length of stay at your program?
  2. How many individual sessions (i.e. primary therapist, registered dietitian, psychiatrist) do you provide per week?
  3. For PHP or IOP programs, do you offer housing?
  4. What are sleeping arrangements and accommodations? (i.e. roommates)
  5. Do you offer virtual programming? Which states are you licensed to provide care in?
  6. Describe your patient population (number of patients, age range, genders, diagnoses).
  7. Does your program accept medically unstable patients?
  8. If applicable, do you accommodate tube feeding?
  9. What does an average day look like?
  10. What are general goals for treatment? What is your recovery philosophy?
  11. What is your treatment model/What are your therapeutic approaches?
  12. How do you determine the appropriate treatment approach?
  13. What is your nutrition food philosophy (i.e. exchanges, intuitive eating, meal plan)?
  14. If applicable, how do you work with comorbid diagnoses?
  15. How are family members included in the treatment process?
  16. If applicable, is there a religious or spiritual aspect to your treatment program?
  17. What academic arrangements do you make for school-age patients?
  18. What are the fees for treatment?
  19. Do you take insurance and, if so, which plans? Do you accept Medicare or Medicaid? If your program is out of network with my insurance, will you help to obtain a single case agreement?
  20. What if I do not have insurance or mental health benefits under my health care plan? Do you offer any private pay discounts and/or scholarships?
  21. What medical information do you need? Will I need a medical evaluation before entering your care?
  22. What criteria do you use for discharge?
  23. What is your step-down process in treatment and after treatment? Do you help establish an outside treatment team?
  24. If offering virtual programming, does the step-down differ?