Communication Works fell short of our expectations. Our son's first therapist who he did individual therapy with was stronger (as a communicator to us, and as somebody who understood our son) than the second, who led a therapy group that we did not feel was productive for our son at all. We ultimately abandoned therapy at Communication Works because we questioned the consistency of care and were deeply concerned that his last therapist seemed so out of touch with his needs. Particularly with group therapy, you are at the mercy of CW's staff's process of determining which group your kid belongs in, and if they get it wrong, the group will be of little benefit.
In the weeks and months following our departure, we discovered another problem: none of the services we received there were reimbursable by our (generally very good PPO) insurance. A child psychologist had advised us to get our son in social/behavioral therapy and we chose CW because behavioral therapy is heavily advertised (by them, on their web site and when you call them for consultation) as a core competency and because it is one of the only organizations that offers group therapy for kids as young as ours. However, Communication Works is only licensed to treat for speech therapy codes 92507 and 92508, so when I submitted our insurance claims, I could not be reimbursed.
This, in my opinion, is outrageous. My son was not seen for speech therapy (he has no speech delays or speech issues)--he was seen for social and behavioral issues, yet CW is not licensed to invoice with treatment codes that correspond to anything other than speech therapy. When I called to straighten this out (my husband had been trying for months and he was at the end of his rope), I was confronted with a defensive staff member who went through a litany of technicalities designed to explain to me how it was that their speech therapists were qualified to practice behavioral therapy but just weren't licensed to treat for it, as a behavioral psychologist would be. This person basically blamed me for wrongfully assuming that an organization that advertises behavioral therapy would be licensed to use behavioral therapy treatment codes when billing me.
The irony is staggering. An organization that focuses on effective communications pulls an epic fail in communicating transparently with clients. I was appalled that the man I spoke with (who identified himself as the co-owner) was so confrontational, and so resistant to legitimate feedback about the transparency of the ambiguity, if not outright disparity, between the services they advertise and the services they are fully licensed to handle.
I also didn't walk away from the conversation confident in this person's ethics (anybody who has to defend themselves with the words "we're not doing anything illegal" is probably doing something shady). My husband has maintained all along, based on the people he dealt with along the way in trying to find resolution, that he thinks that Communication Works deliberately misleads clients. He has also gotten the strong sense that there are questionable ethics at play.
At the end of the day, this lack of transparency cost my family a few thousand dollars that we can't afford to lose but won't be able to recover. I plan to take my complaint about Communication Works to their regulating and certifying bodies and I have already documented their advertising materials to be included as part of my complaint. I view this as a case of false advertising. I would like them to stop advertising themselves so aggressively as treating for behavioral and social issues without better disclosure around potential insurance/reimbursement issues. read more
