1. If insurance will be used for payment of services, a referral from the child's pediatrician/primary care provider is necessary to schedule an evaluation or to be added to the waitlist. 2. No referral is necessary if you will be paying out of pocket. 3. Once the referral is received (usually via fax), our office will give you a call to either schedule your child for an evaluation or add your child to the waitlist (if there are no open spots available). 4. Please call 225-283-5797 once the referral has been faxed to confirm that we have received the referral. Sometimes the contact numbers on the referrals are not current or the referral does not come through at all. 5. If you have a child who needs feeding therapy (depending on the severity of your child's feeding limitations) feeding therapy referrals will take precedence over speech and language referrals. 6. We will call you to schedule the evaluation once a spot opens up and a current referral is on file. We will attempt to reach you twice before moving on to the next child on the waitlist. Please call us back as soon as possible to be scheduled if you receive a missed call or voice message from us. We are more than happy to answer any of your questions/concerns with an SLP. Please don't hesitate to give us a call.

Yes! Bright Speech Therapy accepts many different insurance plans, including Medicaid. Since each insurance provider has its own requirements, please let us know what kind of insurance you have and we will be happy to assist you in figuring out exactly what type of coverage you have and if the sessions qualify under your current plan. It is the responsibility of the parent/caregiver to call and confirm treatment benefits for speech-language pathology/feeding services with their insurance carrier. If the insurance carrier is not in-network, pre-authorizations and referrals will need to be obtained. In the event your commercial insurance company is billed and payment is denied, the patient/guardian will be held accountable for the cost of all services rendered. Some of the plans we are work with include: Louisiana Medicaid (in-network) Aetna Better Health of Louisiana (in-network) Louisiana Healthcare Connections (in-network) Healthy Blue of Louisiana (in-network) AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana (in-network) Humana Healthy Horizons Louisiana (in-network) United Healthcare Community Plan (in-network) BCBSLA (in-network) TriCare / Allied Health (in-network) Please feel free to call to inquire if your insurance plan is accepted.

Yes, please call to request current out-of-pocket private rates at 225-283-5797.

There is no one answer to this question as no two patients are the same. Factors that are taken into consideration are the child's condition, needs, pediatrician's recommendation, and insurance coverage. While some patients come twice a week for 30 minute treatment sessions, others might need to come 3-4 times a week for 30 minute treatment sessions. We strive to make therapy as convenient as possible. The scope and duration of the therapy will be determined in consultation with the speech language pathologist, during the initial evaluation.

A referral is required for all evaluations and treatments that are covered under Medicaid, medicaid affiliated insurance plans, and private insurance plans (including superbills). However, if payments for the speech-language/feeding services are made out-of-pocket, a pediatrician's referral is not necessary.

The following circumstances will determine whether the client will be discharged: The client should meet a minimum of 80% attendance in order to maximize progress and maintain the scheduled day and time. If the patient's attendance is insufficient for progress, the client will be discharged. If the speech therapist determines that the treatment no longer results in measurable benefits for the patient, the client will be discharged. Re-evaluation may be considered at a later date to determine whether the client's status has changed or whether new treatment options have become available. If the child is unable to tolerate treatment because of a serious medical, psychological, or other condition, the client will be discharged. If the child demonstrates behavior that interferes with improvement or participation in treatment (e.g. non-compliance, refusal to participate, dysregulation for the majority of the session), provided that efforts to address the interfering behavior have been unsuccessful, the client will be discharged. If the child demonstrates continual aggressive and/or violent physical behaviors towards the speech therapist or staff, the client will be discharged. If the client's caregiver/guardian chooses not to participate in treatment, relocates, or seeks another provider and requests to be discharged, the client will be discharged. If the communication disorder and/or dysphagia have been remediated or compensatory strategies have been successfully established, the client will be discharged from services. (YESSS!!!)