Our current evaluation time frame is approximately six months from start to finish.
What we do
Our purpose is to test/evaluate for autism, ADHD, or learning disabilities, then send that information back to your referring doctor.
What we don’t do
Driftwood is an evaluation center and an evaluation center only. We do not provide referrals, or do therapy or ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis).
Initial Client Call
Once your information is received, our staff will reach out to you to discuss your concerns and needs. This is complementary and will include verifying information and determining next steps. In most cases, you will be sent an invitation to our patient portal. You will receive an email with instructions on how to access the portal.
Insurance
We accept SC Medicaid, Humana, Healthy Blue, First Choice/Select Health, Absolute Total Care, Aetna, and United.
If your insurance company contracts with us, we typically will need to have two visits. We will gather some information to submit to request an approval for the evaluation. This submission and approval process takes a number of weeks. If you have commercial insurance (not Medicaid), you may have copays and deductibles after your insurance pays. In those cases, the balance due must be paid in full before we can release the report. Thank you for your understanding.
Private Pay
If you do not have insurance, or choose not to use your insurance, we do offer an option for ‘private pay’. We will conduct an evaluation and provide you with a detailed, comprehensive report. Our cost for this evaluation is $2000. If payment in full is not possible, we require a down payment of $1000 prior to the evaluation. The balance of $1000 can be paid in two installments. We do expect and appreciate that your balance is paid in full when the report is ready. However, we do not want your inability to pay for this to be a barrier to receiving services. Please contact our office to discuss your specific situation.
Appointments
Our appointments are made in accordance to the individual needs of the patient. Every attempt will be made to coordinate this with their schedule. We require a confirmation of these appointments. If we do not receive a confirmation, you may need to be rescheduled. Habitual no-shows or no response to attempts to confirm may result in discharge from the practice.
Intake Appointment
If an intake appointment is required, it is up to 1 hour in length. Paperwork must be completed in order to schedule this appointment.
Parent/Guardian Expectations
In order for us to provide the most comprehensive evaluation for you/your child, we require input from the parent/guardian/client. This would include a discussion in addition to completing paperwork. You know yourself/your child the best!
Evaluation
An evaluation will be scheduled in one of our offices. This can take up to four (4) hours, but is often shorter. Additional paperwork may be required, and must be completed prior to this appointment. Failure to complete necessary paperwork will result in an incomplete report; this may impact the ability to obtain services as a result.
Generally, if the client is less than 7 years old, the client and their parent/guardian will both come back to the examination room.
If the client is 7 or older, but less than 18, we will attempt to work with them individually (without the parent/guardian in the room). Following this initial portion, which is approximately an hour, the client’s parent/guardian and the examiner will decide how to proceed with the discussion portion of the assessment. This could include the client in the room with the parent/guardian, or just the parent/guardian while the client is out of the room.
In both scenarios, we request that the parent/guardian remain in the building for safety and liability concerns.
For clients 18 and above, the evaluation will be conducted independently with the client while the discussion portion may include other individuals who are important to the client, such as parents or spouses.
At the end of the evaluation appointment, the evaluator will have a discussion about initial impressions and will often provide a preliminary verbal diagnosis. This is a good time to ask any questions or share any concerns that you may have.
Report
After the appointment(s) have taken place, and the patient/parental paperwork has been completed, we move to the report writing phase. This process can be lengthy (as long as 6 to 8 weeks) as we are synthesizing all the information we have gathered from the appointments. Once that is done, we will share the report with you.