Making and Changing Appointments
Appointments at CFMAL are generally made through the reception staff of Northwest Psychological Resources.
(360) 414-8600
If you call during normal business hours of 8:30am to 4:30 pm, our automated answering system will provide you the option of connecting with a patient services representative. An intake specialist will spend a few minutes collecting some information about you and your needs. If you are planning to use insurance resources to help cover the costs of services, you will want to have that information ready to share.
In most case, an initial appointment lasting 45-50 minutes will be scheduled. If our staff cannot find a time in the clinician’s schedule to meet your needs, the clinician will be informed of this and likely call you back personally within a few days to find a date and time that works for both.
If you call after hours or no staff is available at the time of your call, the answering system will provide you the option of leaving a confidential message for either the office staff or a particular clinician.
There will be some new patient forms to complete before your first visit. You can come 15 minutes early to complete these, or save some time by completing and printing them using our Forms and Tests to Download page.
Changing or Cancelling Appointments
Patients sometimes find themselves with unavoidable conflicts in their schedules. Life happens… We understand.
If you need to cancel and/or change your appointment, please call our office at the above numbers as soon as possible. You can call anytime of the day or night to leave a message for your clinician. The sooner your clinician knows you need to change your appointment, the more time he or she will have to plan accordingly.
Before calling to cancel, please refer to the section in our Office Policies you received at the first appointment regarding missed appointments or late cancellations. Most all clinicians require 24 hour notice of cancellation. It is customary to bill you for late cancels and failed appointments. Your clinician has set aside an hour or more of his or her time for this appointment. Your time is valuable, and so is your clinician’s. Missing your appointment hinders the quality of your care, denies the appointment time to someone else, and represents lost income for your clinician who likely could have filled the appointment if he or she knew in advance you could not attend.
Some clinicians offer discounts for first-time mistakes or when genuine emergencies prohibit you coming to an appointment. Forgetting, discovering a last-minute conflict, or being called in to work create difficult choices for you, but usually do not constitute genuine emergencies.
You may notice an adjustment on your statement showing whether or not your clinician chose to offer full or partial discount for the miss. Each clinician decides if they are willing to offer an adjustment on a case-by-case basis. Any questions regarding your fee for this missed appointment should be directed to your clinician. Since you are a private client of your clinician and not NWPR, the billing staff is unable to make changes to your bill without your clinician’s authorization.