Question 1

Does "lists Optum" mean my sessions will be paid for?

Accepted Answer

No. It means the therapist named Optum on their own Psychology.com profile, which is a claim about who they bill, not a check we have run and not a statement about your own coverage. Whether a particular session is paid for depends on the therapist's current network status and on your Optum plan, including your deductible, your copay and any limit on outpatient mental health visits. Treat this page as a shortlist to call, not an answer about your benefits.

Question 2

How do I check whether a therapist is in network with my Optum plan?

Accepted Answer

Ask both sides the same question and compare the answers. Ask the therapist, by message or on a first call, whether they are in network with your specific Optum plan and whether they bill Optum directly. Then call the member number on your card, give them the therapist's full name and NPI number, and ask what you would owe per session. The two answers disagree often enough that asking only one is how people end up with a bill they did not expect. A therapist can be in network with one Optum plan and out of network with the next, and a network can end part way through a year.

Question 3

What if none of the therapists on this page has an opening?

Accepted Answer

You have three workable routes. Ask to be put on a waitlist and give your real availability, because evening and early morning slots move fastest. Widen the search to every therapist licensed in Louisiana who works online, which is a much larger pool than any one payer's list. Or work the other direction and ask Optum for its own list of in-network therapists in Louisiana, then call the names on it, because that list and ours are built from different sources and neither one is complete.

Question 4

What do out-of-network reimbursement and a superbill mean?

Accepted Answer

A superbill is an itemized receipt from your therapist showing the dates, the service codes and what you paid. You send it to your insurer yourself, and if your plan has out-of-network benefits the insurer pays you back a share of the fee once your out-of-network deductible is met. It is worth asking about when the therapist you want is not in network, because plenty of therapists will issue a superbill even when they do not bill insurers themselves. Ask your plan two things first, whether it has out-of-network benefits at all and what it considers a reasonable fee for a 50-minute session, because the reimbursement is a percentage of that figure rather than of what you actually paid.

Question 5

What does a session cost among these therapists?

Accepted Answer

2 of the 3 therapists on this page list a fee. Their listed fees run $100 to $150 per session, with a median starting fee of $100. That is the range these therapists published on their own profiles, not a market rate for Louisiana and not what you would owe after your Optum plan is applied. 2 also offer a sliding scale, which is marked on the card.

Question 6

Can a therapist in another state see me if they list Optum?

Accepted Answer

Only if they hold a license in the state you are sitting in during the session, or a telehealth registration there. That is a rule about where you are, not where the therapist is, and it holds whatever your insurance says. Everyone on this page is licensed in Louisiana, which is why they appear here. The insurance question sits on top of that: confirm the license state first, then the network status.

Optum Therapists in Louisiana

3 therapists in Louisiana who list Optum

Caycee Terrell-Vining

Jeffrey Coira, MA, MSW

Christine Rykiel

Other insurers listed by therapists in Louisiana

Therapists who list Optum in other states

How members are checked

NPI Registry match

State board lookup

Dated, with the link

Frequently asked questions