Office Hours & Appointments

The office is open regularly from 11 AM until 6 PM Monday through Thursday.  All appointments must be scheduled.  You will be charged for  missing appointments (unless due to emergencies) because the time for your appointment is reserved only for you.

Confidentiality and Privacy

For many reasons, personal and economic, confidentiality is especially important.  Our privacy policy conforms to the new Federal HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act) Privacy Regulation. However, in certain situations, South Carolina Law does permit medical records to be subpoened without your consent. You can view the office privacy policy in adobe acrobat format here - privacy policy

Emergency Coverage

Either Dr. Abess or an on call psychiatrist will be available at all times to handle emergencies.  When the office is closed, your telephone call will be handled by an answering service staffed with live operators.  Identify yourself as a patient of Dr. Abess and give your name and telephone number along with the nature of the problem so that an appropriate response will be expedited.

Fee Payment

Outpatient fees are due and payable at the time of the session.  Dr. Abess makes it a practice to discuss finances openly.  Twenty minute sessions are charged at $85.  Forty-five minute sessions are charged at $170.  Sixty minute sessions are charged at $255. 

Health Insurance

Your insurance coverage is based on a contract between you and your insurance company. Dr. Abess is not a party to that agreement.  Dr. Abess' services are charged to you, not to your insurance company.  Dr. Abess does not accept assignment (have the insurance company pay Dr. Abess directly) for office visits.  Ann Abess is familiar with a variety of insurance problems and is willing to you in dealing with insurance matters. As a convenience for you, Ann will file your health insurance claim. However, payment is expected at the time of the session unless other arrangements have previously been agreed upon.

Managed Care

Dr. Abess intentionally avoids participation in managed care.  He believes the best health decisions are those made between the patient or patient's family and the doctor.  In managed care, important health decisions are determined by individuals who desire to save money, yet who do not have responsibility for the well being of the patient.  In most situations, managed care means your health is managed by others who have more to gain by withholding care.  Ultimately managed care will fail as it restricts the patients choice of doctor, and limits availability to the best care available.

Philosophy

Dr. Abess believes all individuals should be treated with respect and dignity.  He enjoys his practice of psychiatry and derives satisfaction when his patients progress.  By intentionally remaining small and having a great deal of control over his practice, he hopes to be able to provide exceptional service for his patients.  If ever there develops a problem between office procedures or personnel or with Dr. Abess himself, he hopes you will bring the problem to his attention in order that a satisfactory resolution might be possible.

E-mail policy

If you have e-mail capability, and if you desire to communicate with Dr. Abess by e-mail, then this form of communication can be used, provided the matter is not urgent.  All urgent matters need to be handled by telephone.  Examples of appropriate use of email would include clarification of instructions, checking of laboratory results, questions about medication interactions or medication side effects, status reports, medication refills, and appointment requests.  Email is not a substitute for office visits or for psychotherapy. 

To send email to Dr. Abess, you must go to the RelayHealth website to register with RelayHealth and then select Dr. Abess as your physician.  The address of the RelayHealth website is http://www.RelayHealth.com

Dr. Abess utilizes RelayHealth for email communication with patients because it provides private secure encrypted messaging without patients having to pay for their own digital signatures for secure messaging and because RelayHealth meets all the legal and ethical standards for email messaging recommended by HCFA, the AMIA, and the new HIPAA requirements.  Further, once registered, you may send and receive secure private encrypted messages to and from Dr. Abess from any computer in the world that is connected to the internet with a web browser.  This is very useful when you are traveling. 

E-mail messages that require Dr. Abess to write a response that incorporates information from his medical training, a therapeutic response targeted to your situation, or a review of your chart will incur a charge of $25.00 per message.  This fee is not reimbursable by your health insurance company. 

Your e-mail address will never be sold or provided to other companies.  Your email address will never be used to market other people's products or services.  Dr. Abess, however, may  use your e-mail address to keep you informed of new products and services that his office provides, and to send out newsletters regarding new developments or items in the news pertaining to psychiatric disorders and psychiatric medication.  Though e-mail messages are read by Dr. Abess, the content may also be read by other staff in Dr. Abess' office.