24 Hour Cancelation Policy

Why does Ebenezer has a 24 hour cancellation policy?  I want to help you understand the need for it and to clarify “the rules.”

This policy is in place to honor and protect your therapist’s income.  At ECS, your  therapist is paid a percentage of the revenue their work here generates.  If you were to not show or if you cancel late, your therapist would be here and ready to go, but he or she would not be paid anything (nor is Ebenezer for that matter).  Many people assume that their therapist gets paid just for being here.  That is not the case.  Your therapist only gets paid when the session is actually paid for.  So, late cancellations are very costly to your therapist.  Imagine having a significant portion of your pay removed because of cancellations or no shows.  The late cancellation fee is simply the normal fee for the session.  We cannot charge insurance companies or other third party payors so you will be responsible for this fee. 

We have found that when you give more than 24 hours notice, we are often able to fill that time slot with someone else so your therapist gets paid for their time. With short notice, we are unable to fill the slot.  Even if you reschedule for later in the week, your therapist loses their income from the late cancellation.  That is why we have the 24 hour cancellation policy.  Your therapist gets paid for his or her time; and I can tell you, your therapist appreciates that.

The timing of the cancellation is obviously important and can be confusing.  To keep it simple, just keep in mind that if you are cancelling with more than 24 hours before your next appointment, you cancellation will not be charged.  This applies during the week and on weekends. We have a time-stamped voicemail system that makes this determination easy. So to have some examples, if you leave a message on our message system the night before your appointment the next day, you will be charged.  Or, if you call in at 10:00am to cancel tomorrow’s 8:00am appointment, you will be charged. Or if you call on Sunday afternoon to cancel your Monday morning appointment, you will be charged. But if you call on Saturday to cancel your Monday appointment, you will not be charged. Get the idea? It really is a 24 hour rule we are following.

Even with late cancellations (less than 24 hour notice), we have built in grace and exceptions.  If you must cancel due to illness or your child’s illness, a death in the family, snow days, a flat tire,  or some other unforeseeable significant problem, we will NOT charge you for the cancellation.  If you are calling after hours, just leave your reason for cancelling.  Examples of problems that do not qualify include a babysitter cancelling, a meeting at work, another doctor’s appointment, forgetting, vacation, etc. Your therapist has authority to forgive your late cancellation for any reason if he or she chooses.  Please talk to your therapist if you ever feel like you have been charged erroneously or wrongly.  Or, please feel free to contact myself, Dale Berry (Clinical Director) or Alice Sword (Office Manager) (865 670-0988) if you have any questions about this.  We want to take good care of you and to honor you as well.  Thank you for your understanding.