Good Faith Estimate
Your right to a Good Faith Estimate
Federal law gives people who are not using insurance the right to know what a service is expected to cost before they schedule it. Crescent is a private‑pay practice, which means this applies to every family here. You receive the estimate in writing, and you can ask for one at any point.
What a Good Faith Estimate is.
A Good Faith Estimate is a written statement of the charges Crescent expects for the service you are scheduling. It is required under the federal No Surprises Act for patients who are uninsured or who are not using insurance to pay for care. Because Crescent does not bill insurance, every family working with Crescent is entitled to one.
You have the right to receive it in writing before you schedule, and to ask for it at any time while you are deciding.
What the estimate covers.
The estimate covers the expected charges for the specific service being scheduled: the assessment or consultation itself, and the items that make it up, described one by one rather than as a single figure. It is written against the referral question as it stands on the day it is issued.
If a bill is larger than the estimate.
If you are billed substantially more than your Good Faith Estimate, federal law gives you the right to dispute the bill through a patient‑provider dispute resolution process. The statute sets both how much larger the bill has to be before that right applies and how long you have to start the process.
Keep your copy of the estimate. You will need it if you use that process.
How to request one.
Ask, and it is provided in writing. You can request an estimate during the free 15‑minute consultation, by phone, or through the contact page. Crescent also provides one before an assessment is scheduled, whether or not you have asked.
- Call or text: (559) 287‑8351
- Contact
- Keep the details off the public form. Records, reports, health information, and your child’s full story should not go through the contact form. A sentence or two is enough to start, and we will set up a secure way to send the rest.
An estimate is not a contract.
An estimate is a good‑faith projection based on what is known when it is written. It is not a bill, and it is not a binding agreement to a fixed price.
What would change it:
- The referral question changes, or a second question is added.
- The records to be reviewed turn out to be substantially larger than described.
- A school observation, or an instrument the original question did not call for, is added to the assessment.
- You request services beyond the ones that were estimated.
If any of that happens, you hear about it before the work is done, and a revised estimate follows in writing. Nothing is billed that was not agreed to first.
Related pages
Start with a conversation
Questions about an estimate.
If something in an estimate does not make sense to you, ask before you schedule. Understanding what a service costs and what it includes is part of deciding whether it is the right one.