Insurance Coverage

Like psychological, chiropractic or physio-therapeutic services, psychotherapy is not covered by OHIP unless the service is provided by a medical professional. Both the members of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and of the College of Nurses of Ontario are permitted to provide psychotherapy under the Psychotherapy Act and in keeping with the regulations of their Colleges.

However, since the founding of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario, increasingly the services of registered psychotherapists are covered by private health insurance coverage. The best way to find out if my services are covered by your health plan is to contact the plan provider directly. Sometimes services will be covered even if your certificate does not say so explicitly. The reason given most often is: “If the therapist has a registration number it’s fine.”

If your health plan does not cover sessions with registered psychotherapists it may be worth having a conversation with your HR department. For larger companies it is sometimes as easy as HR making a call to the provider and asking for coverage to be added to the existing plan. It doesn’t usually add to the cost for the provider and therefore doesn’t add cost for the company. It’s simply a shift in who can provide the services they are already ensuring. That means of course that some kind of mental health coverage already has to be a part of your existing plan.

When you have found out if you can claim your psychotherapy sessions with your insurance company, you will be able to submit the receipts for our sessions for reimbursement. The receipts you receive from me include my business number, registration number with the CRPO, name and address, and the kind of service that was provided to you with a date and the cost for the session. That is usually sufficient for the needs of the insurance companies.