Coverage: Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York
Medication management in New York, with Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage checked by plan.
In New York, Blue Cross Blue Shield plans come from more than one company: Empire BlueCross BlueShield serves the downstate area, and Excellus BlueCross BlueShield serves much of upstate, and other family plans arrive with people who moved or work for out-of-state employers. This practice is in network with many plans in the Blue Cross Blue Shield family. Participation runs by plan, so your exact plan is verified and your exact cost stated before your first visit.
PsychMed Care is the medication management practice of Solutions Psychiatry. If you are looking for therapy, or therapy and medication together, the full practice is at psych.us.
What in network means here
The shield, the company, and your plan are three different things
The logo is shared. The companies behind it are separate, and their contracts are separate. That single fact explains most of the confusion around this coverage, and it is why this page runs on verification rather than assumption.
Who issues New York plans
Downstate, plans are issued by Empire BlueCross BlueShield; across much of upstate, by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. They are different companies with different networks. A plan from a third family company, carried through an employer based elsewhere, is a fourth possibility verification has to sort.
In network with many plans
The practice participates with many Blue Cross Blue Shield family plans, across more than a dozen states. Many plans is the honest claim. Whether yours is one of them is a checkable fact, and it is checked, with the answer stated in numbers before you are seen.
If the answer is no
A plan that does not verify is reported as exactly that, at booking, not discovered on a statement. The published self-pay rates, $350 for the first appointment and $250 for follow-ups, are then your stated alternative, and the choice is yours with real figures in front of you.
Care that does not depend on the card
The prescribing is the same work for every patient: the full medication list reviewed, interactions watched, labs drawn at any lab near you when a decision needs them, and changes made one at a time.
If things reach the point of thoughts of harming yourself, help is available now: call or text 988, text HOME to 741741 for Crisis Text Line, or call the NAMI Helpline at 1-800-950-6264. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. This practice is not an emergency service. The crisis page lists more options.
Care in New York
New York care, from Buffalo to the city
Appointments run by secure video across New York State, so an upstate patient and a patient in Queens see the same prescriber without the travel deciding anything. The practice keeps an office at 276 Fifth Ave Suite 604 in New York City for in-person visits when federal or DEA requirements call for one, arranged with you well in advance. Your prescriber is Dr. Karel Winner, a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner who holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Vanderbilt University and a graduate degree in education from Vanderbilt University.
How it starts
Checked, quoted, then seen
The answer comes back as a number before the first visit, whichever way it comes out.
Book with your card details
Pick a time online or by phone and include the details from your card, including the issuing company if it is printed there.
Your exact plan is verified
Participation, copay, and deductible are confirmed and stated before the visit, whichever way the answer comes out.
The first appointment
Sixty minutes on your history, your health, and your medication record, ending in a plan. Follow-up Appointments run 30 minutes.
Cost and coverage
What it costs, and what your plan covers
The first appointment is a 60-minute Comprehensive Initial Appointment at $350. Follow-up Appointments run 30 minutes at $250 each. With a verified in-network plan, patients here typically pay a copay of $0 to $40 instead, confirmed before the first visit. This practice is in network with many Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, and also with Aetna, Cigna and Evernorth, UnitedHealthcare and Optum, Oscar, Oxford, Carelon, and Providence. Care is by secure telehealth in 34 states plus DC, for ages 17 and up. You can book here, or call (800) 303-3221.
Related pages: this plan in other states, Blue Cross Blue Shield in Texas, Blue Cross Blue Shield in California. Other plans in New York: Aetna in New York, Cigna in New York, UnitedHealthcare in New York. The full picture of what medication care costs is on the visits and fees page.
“The answer was a number, given before the first visit, not after a claim.”
Start with a 60-minute evaluation, plan verified before it