Mental Health Good Faith Estimate Form

Mental Health Good Faith Estimate Form Template

As of January 1, 2022, the No Surprises Act requires healthcare providers—including mental health therapists, counselors, and psychologists—to provide uninsured and self-pay patients with a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of expected charges before services are rendered. This Mental Health Good Faith Estimate Form helps therapists comply with federal requirements while building trust with clients through transparent pricing.

Why Mental Health Professionals Need This Form

Mental health practitioners in private practice, counseling centers, and therapy clinics must provide clear cost estimates to uninsured patients or those who choose not to use their insurance. This form template helps you:

• Meet No Surprises Act compliance requirements by documenting expected costs for therapy sessions
• Build trust with clients through transparent, upfront pricing discussions
• Reduce billing disputes by setting clear expectations before treatment begins
• Streamline your administrative workflow with a digital-first approach to GFE delivery
• Maintain HIPAA compliance with secure data collection and storage

Who Should Use This Template

This template is designed for:

• Licensed therapists and counselors (LMFT, LPC, LCSW, LMHC) in private practice
• Psychologists and psychiatrists offering self-pay options
• Mental health clinics serving uninsured populations
• Telehealth therapy providers with self-pay patients
• Group therapy facilitators and intensive outpatient programs
• Substance abuse counselors and addiction treatment specialists

What's Included in This Form

This comprehensive good faith estimate form captures:

• Patient demographic and contact information for record-keeping
• Service details including therapy type, session frequency, and duration
• Itemized pricing breakdown for individual sessions, assessments, and additional services
• Total cost estimates for both single sessions and treatment episodes
• Payment terms and policies including cancellation and no-show fees
• Patient rights information explaining dispute resolution options
• Digital signature capture for HIPAA-compliant consent

How Paperform Simplifies Good Faith Estimates

Traditional good faith estimate forms involve printed paperwork, manual calculations, and filing hassles. Paperform transforms this process into a streamlined digital experience:

Professional, branded presentation: Create forms that match your practice's visual identity, helping patients feel confident in your professionalism from the first interaction.

Automatic calculations: Use built-in calculation fields to automatically total session costs based on frequency and duration—no spreadsheet required.

Secure data handling: With SOC 2 Type II compliance and HIPAA-friendly features, your patient information stays protected (note: additional safeguards may be required for full HIPAA compliance).

Instant delivery: Patients receive their good faith estimate immediately upon submission, and you get organized records in your dashboard or connected tools.

Extend Your Workflow with Stepper and Papersign

Once a patient submits their good faith estimate acknowledgment, you can use Stepper to automate follow-up workflows:

• Automatically add the patient to your practice management system or CRM
• Send appointment confirmation emails with intake paperwork
• Create calendar events for scheduled sessions
• Trigger reminders about payment policies before the first session

If you need formal agreements beyond the GFE, Papersign lets you convert form submissions into professional service agreements, informed consent documents, or financial policies that patients can review and sign electronically—keeping everything connected to the original estimate.

Best Practices for Mental Health GFEs

When implementing good faith estimates in your practice:

• Update pricing regularly to reflect any changes in your session rates or services offered
• Be specific about session length (45-minute vs. 60-minute sessions) to avoid confusion
• Include all potential charges such as initial assessments, crisis sessions, or report writing
• Explain your cancellation policy clearly within the estimate
• Keep records for at least three years as required by the No Surprises Act
• Provide estimates in advance whenever possible, ideally before the first appointment

Building Trust Through Transparency

For mental health professionals, the therapeutic relationship is built on trust. Providing clear, honest pricing information from the start demonstrates respect for your clients' financial concerns and reduces anxiety around cost—allowing them to focus on their mental health journey.

Whether you're a solo practitioner just starting out or an established therapy practice serving dozens of clients weekly, this good faith estimate template helps you meet legal requirements while maintaining the warm, professional tone that's essential in mental health care.

Get Started with Paperform

With Paperform's intuitive form builder, you can customize this template to match your specific services, add your practice branding, and start delivering professional good faith estimates in minutes. The platform integrates seamlessly with popular practice management tools like SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, and Google Workspace, making it easy to keep client information organized across your entire practice.

Trusted by healthcare providers worldwide and backed by enterprise-grade security, Paperform gives mental health professionals the tools they need to stay compliant, build trust, and focus on what matters most—helping clients heal.