LifeStance HealthReviews of lifestance.com

I want to put zero stars. I made an appointment for my son and completed all the paperwork. The EVENING before the appointment, someone from their office calls me and tells me they are calling about the paperwork. I advised them I had completed all the paperwork for the appointment in the morning. The representative for the company then advises me they need a credit card on file before the appointment. I advise I will not be adding a credit card on file at this time. She then tells me that I have until the end of the business day to add a credit card on file or the appointment would be canceled. Therefore, it was my understanding that the appointment was cancelled. I then a receive a bill for $150 with no explanation. I contact them online and am advised it is due to no show for an appointment. I explain what happened and that they canceled the appointment and I should not be charged when they canceled the appointment. I was advised I still have to pay the $150. Do not deal with this company. This company appears to be very shady and have illegal dealings.

Had a session on 11/27. Made sure my insurance covers it. Got the confirmation. After one ZOOM session brought the insurance card to the Mission Valley office IN PERSON. The girl made the copy. A month or so later get a bill for $345. Called the office. They give an option to call you back so that one does not sit there forever. Left my phone number. 3 hours later - no phone call. Are you saying your people are not able to answer the phone for 3-hours? You guys are a joke.

Arrived early for my appointment as directed and sat there and sat there and sat there —no staff at front desk to register with as directed. Eventually therapist came out and led me into her office. She told me that she was new and noted that the front desk was not attended on a regular basis. After the first session (which was an hour, instead of the 1.5 hours I was told to expect), she recommended coming back for 4 weekly sessions. Initially I agreed, but upon reflection, I decided that the system/counselor were not for me. I called to cancel my future appointments and was told that there were no further appointments scheduled for me. The person I spoke to said that she would notify the counselor, but I am going to follow up with another call to make sure that my appointments really have been cancelled. My experience thus far did not fill me with confidence that this would be done.

I am completely appalled by the lack of communication especially considering I was a new patient. I did everything I was asked as a new patient. When I set this appointment up on Wed I was emailed multiple forms which were completed in a tamely manner. I confirmed my appointment by the link that was sent to me via email. My appointment was scheduled for 2:30 PM and I was on before 2:30 PM completing an extensive amount of HIPPA verification questions, reading additional forms that required my consent for medical records, office procedures, and insurance and payment information. All of which I have to read before signing. I was logged in and in the waiting room que which is all apart of the check in process. As a new patient i want to make sure that I'm reading and answering everything correctly. New patient visits takes a significant amount of time, I know because I work in a doctors office myself. I understand that I'm not the only patient Vicki has scheduled but this visit was scheduled for 2 hours. Yes, 2 hours and I was snubbed off and was told to reschedule after 10 min. I wasn't late, I was checked in and going through the new patient process which includes reading through the material before just signing something. It takes a lot of courage to even make the 1st step to get in with a therapist but then to be denied care after 10 minutes into a 2 hour apt? Have some patience and give some grace.. I was really looking forward to this visit...

This facilities policies have links to insurance fraud. I have already been reaching out to several journalists to expose this injustice. This is the problem with the new wave of healthcare. This companies mission is to provide to those who do not have access to mental health care. The majority of people who do not have access typically do not have education in insurance/billing. Who are we to know what procedure codes are being billed incorrectly if you have a card on file to cover the costs without notifying the patient. This is the perfect example of FRAUD, WASTE, and ABUSE. A stop needs to be put to this. This company KNOWS their demographic and they are taking ADVANTAGE of the unwell. Do not waste your time here just because they hire great providers. BE AWARE Your policy drafters and board members should be ashamed of themselves for allowing such a rule to be mandated. Being in mental health, wouldn't you want them to feel independent and financially responsible? You should have a treatment coordinator that goes over billing, that goes over procedure codes. Your mission is to heal us not stress us out. You need to be transparent to the patient about their treatment and what is being billed. Do not automatically bill a bank account. You are not AT&T or GMC. Not only is the requirement to put a card on file culturally incompetent for mental health, but it is untrustworthy. Because over the phone when your PSR's are saying they are unable to move forward with the appointment due to pt refusal to put a card on file, that is LIFESTANCE refusing care to a patient due to a preliminary financial question. Which is discrimination. This is not retail, it's healthcare. It is a smart model to put the responsibility of this at the source to the most disposable position. Scheduling

The counselor I met with was amazing. I am giving a 1 star review because this is a for profit company only focused on making money. Which I get. All for profits are, but their mission statement clearly states affordable mental health services. And they changed rates last year, giving us only a few weeks notice. And by change rates, I mean significantly increased them. The billing and operations department were horrible to work with. The operations director I was speaking to, Julie M, simply said "contact your insurance", she wouldn't even provide me the out of pocket cost. If looking for mental health services run as fast as you can away from any LifeStance office.

Reviewing therapist options, none you select are actually available. We had to go with whoever the representative said was available. Guy was nice. Just not for us. Calling to cancel appointments doesn’t work. Hold for over an hour. Select call back option. Nobody called back. I remember I had my therapist business card, I emailed him directly, he took care of it. Calling Lifestance over the phone doesn’t work, alway on hold, they don’t call back same day. Lifestans online is a joke. I can’t book apt online, it’s not available for me to do. That sucks. I had to call and act like a new patient just to talk to someone about scheduling. Came back with only ONE “available therapist” in all the area during times that don’t work for me. Will need to try another company. Lifestance customer service and scheduling is just an awful experience.

In the last 2 years of being a patient, it has become more and more difficult to get in contact with someone who actually works in the office. Now they have a call center where no one knows anything and they're just guessing where to redirect you to. It has lost it's touch. I'm more stressed out calling these people than anything. Do better. Or stop having our calls redirected to god-knows-where