How to Choose a Ketamine Clinic: Not All Clinics Are The Same

If you suffer from depression, anxiety or chronic pain, knowing how to choose a ketamine clinic might be an essential part of your recovery process; ever since the discovery about two decades ago that using ketamine for depression is an effect way to manage the disorder, there have been a growing number of clinics offering ketamine therapy for depression. While this may be seen as a positive development in the growing alternative therapy industry, there is also a concern as to whether all these clinics follow thorough protocols in their ketamine treatments.
When administered by a professional under the right protocols, ketamine has the ability to improve symptoms of depression significantly. This begs the question: How to choose a ketamine clinic that best meets your needs? What are the qualities to look for when searching for a ketamine clinic? Does the price determine the quality of the ketamine treatment therapy you will receive? This article provides answers to all of these pertinent questions regarding your ketamine infusion therapy.

Selecting the Right Ketamine Clinic

Tips for Finding Ketamine Clinics with the Best-Quality Therapy

Because they are privately owned and operated, choosing the right ketamine clinic can be a daunting task. Here are a few suggestions to help ensure you make an informed decision to meet your needs:

Ketamine Clinic Recommendation from Your Doctor

Start your due diligence by asking your primary physician if he or she has a recommendation. A recommendation from a professional practitioner that you trust can be a very instructive source of information.

The Expertise of the Ketamine Therapy Provider

A number of different types of professionals can administer ketamine to suitable patients. Generally, anesthesiologists and licensed physicians are considered to be leading types of practitioners in the administration of ketamine therapy. You will want to ensure that a practitioner has expertise in basic life support and medication administration, and you should enquire whether appropriate support staff will also be available to support the anesthesiologist or physician during the treatment. The importance of having a deeply experienced professional cannot be overemphasized.

How to Choose a Ketamine Clinic Near Me?

This is a common question from patients seeking ketamine treatments as a number of their conditions limit their willingness to travel too far from their homes.  If you are the type that prefers not to have to drive long distances (particularly on the way home from the clinic), you will need to focus your search within your location.  Be sure to check out Frshmind’s clinic directory to help choose a ketamine clinic near you.  How far are you willing to travel for your ketamine therapy? For some people, the nearer, the better, while for others, distance isn’t a barrier as long the treatment is worth their time and money.

Quality of Customer Service

Before settling on a ketamine clinic, you need to know whether they offer satisfying customer service. You can at least have an idea of this by walking into the clinic to make enquiries and study the atmosphere of the clinic and the attitude of the staff on duty. Are they welcoming? Do they appear professional? Do they provide satisfactory answers to your enquiries? These criteria would point to the kind of treatment you will receive when you eventually sign up for their services. If you don’t feel comfortable with your first visit, then you might need to extend your search to other clinics.

How to Choose a Ketamine Clinic: The Cost

Ketamine therapy pricing may vary widely among various clinics. You will need the one that best suits your preference and budget. Of course, to a large extent, how much you are willing to pay may determine the quality of service you will get. But this is not always the case. You shouldn’t base your choice of clinic only on price. The best strategy is to first get to know what different ketamine clinics are charging for which services. While they may not prominently advertise their pricing, as the customer, you have every right to inquire, and to ask them why their pricing is higher, or lower, then other clinics that you have contacted.

Do not automatically assume that you will have a superior experience at a clinic that charges more than its competitors; this may only be a function of their location being in more expensive real estate. However, if a clinic is charging much less than others, you should investigate the reason. For instance, most reputable clinics charge for ketamine infusions on a pay-as-you-go basis. If a clinic asks you to purchase multiple infusions at once, they may have operational issues that you would be wise to avoid.

Ketamine clinics consider various factors before arriving at their pricing. For instance, in some clinics, you will need to pay for pre-treatment consultations, while many others will offer their consultations for free. Another factor is the specific ketamine treatment you are opting for. The cost of ketamine therapy for pain, for instance, ranges from $700 to $2,000 per treatment, while you will pay between $400 to $800 for depression treatment. For PTSD, OCD, and other mood disorders, the price also typically ranges from $400 to $800.

Why are Ketamine Infusion Treatments So Expensive?

Various factors contribute to the seemingly high cost of ketamine therapy. Your choice of provider, location, dosage, duration of therapy, and condition being treated are some of these factors. For example, many ketamine infusion therapies require multiple doses that last for weeks. Conditions like depression will require a lower concentration of ketamine compared to that of pain. This explains why therapy for pain does last for a few hours longer than that of depression (and affects the pricing difference between these sessions).
In general, most ketamine clinics perform up to 6 treatment sessions over the course of 2 to 3 weeks. For some others, the treatment course may be for 1 to 2 weeks. In totality, the cost of series of treatments may range from $3,000 – $5,000.

Insurance Coverage for Ketamine Therapy

As ketamine infusions are very expensive, you would be best served by leveraging your insurance coverage. But the question is: do insurance providers have coverage for ketamine therapy? The answer will depend on the type of health coverage you have. Ketamine is still regarded as an off-label therapy treatment, a class of therapy that government-backed insurance providers generally do not provide coverage for (and this despite the fact that it has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)). For instance, federal and state insurance providers, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and TriCare, do not accept ketamine medication as a covered treatment.
However, if you have private insurance coverage, it is possible that the policy will still provide reimbursement for some of your ketamine treatments. Before you move ahead to treatment, contact your insurance provider to know their stance on ketamine therapy coverage. They may allow it only with a recommendation from your physician or psychiatrist; they may allow it regardless.
In short – be bold and ask questions! Your purchase decision is an important one, as peace of mind is the reason you’re seeking these answers in the first place.

References

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-nasal-spray-medication-treatment-resistant-depression-available-only-certified
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6767816/
https://anesthesiology.pubs.asahq.org/article.aspx?articleid=2026055

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