Counselor Reimbursement

Counseling Reimbursement Protocol

1.0     Clients Eligible for Financial Assistance

Pastors, paid church staff, and their dependents are eligible for assistance.  This includes college students who are still dependent upon their families.  Adult children of pastors and staff members are not eligible for this assistance. 

 

2.0     Number of Sessions Covered

The objective of Oklahoma Baptists’ ministerial counseling support is to achieve assessment and stabilization for the presenting problem.  In other words, the Oklahoma Baptists will assist with short-term, solution-focused therapy. 

Approval for financial assistance is given per unit of counseling, with each unit consisting of six sessions.

  1. The first unit (six sessions) is for assessment and stabilization.
  2. The counselor may request an additional unit. A six-session treatment plan needs to accompany the request.
  3. Each succeeding unit of counseling will be more difficult to obtain.

This policy allows Oklahoma Baptists to be good stewards of resources, makes available data on the types of issues with which ministers, church staff and their families are dealing, and presents a mechanism for evaluating provider effectiveness in short-term therapy.

NOTE: Failure to obtain prior approval before beginning counseling sessions may result in a denial of assistance.

 

3.0     Fees

Patients work harder in therapy when they have a financial commitment.  Their ability to participate financially can be an important success factor.  Because of this reality we are asking you to charge a $10 copay per session for each client.  We are communicating this through all our channels to make sure that clients are aware of this change.

There are several payment sources for any one client:

  • Insurance reimbursement (if any)
  • Local church or association
  • Oklahoma Baptists
  • Client out-of-pocket

Oklahoma Baptists is to be a secondary payment source.  After the primary payment sources have been exhausted, the BGCO will pay up to $80 per counseling session.  

Counseling will only be “free” for those who have no insurance, the church won’t help out, and their income is so low any out-of-pocket would be considered a hardship.  

This means that counselors should not bill Oklahoma Baptists a flat rate for sessions.  Since each family has a different financial situation, the amount of assistance varies from case to case.

Payment from all four sources should not add up to more than the usual and customary fee.

Marital counseling should be billed as a single client unit rather than as two individual client units.

 

4.0     Client Intake Approval

Client referrals may come from various sources but need to be approved by Oklahoma Baptists’ Church Relations Group.  Approval can be obtained by contacting James Swain at 405.942.3800.  Upon approval the agency must assign a case number to be used for all billing.  Client names should not appear on any billing invoice to protect confidentiality.