Not a ten-minute screen. Not a checklist with a prescription at the end. Sixty minutes with a dual board-certified clinician, a real differential, and an answer you can trust — whichever way it goes. Telehealth across California.
01/ Why evaluations differ so muchWHAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY BUYING
Online ADHD care spans a wide range. At one end: a symptom checklist, a ten-minute video call, and a stimulant prescription the same afternoon. At the other: neuropsychological testing batteries that cost thousands and take months — more than most adults need.
A careful psychiatric evaluation sits deliberately between those poles. Long enough to take a real history and rule out the conditions that imitate ADHD. Focused enough to happen in one sitting, at a price insurance actually covers. The diagnosis is clinical — made by a clinician who has taken the time to know what they're looking at, not by a score on a form.
Checklist + prescription
Ten minutes · same-day script · little history
Careful clinical evaluation
Sixty minutes · full differential · insurance-covered
THIS PRACTICE
Neuropsych testing battery
Many hours · $2,000+ · weeks to results
The evaluation is the treatment decision. Everything that follows — medication, strategy, follow-up — inherits its quality.
Why the first hour matters
02/ The hour, step by step60 MINUTES, START TO FINISH
BEFORE~ 24 hrs prior
Intake form arrives via the secure portal. History, current symptoms, what you've tried. The form is for preparation, not screening — nothing gets decided from it.
OPENING~ 5 min
Audio and video check, settle in. Telehealth, from wherever you have privacy and a stable connection.
THE HISTORY~ 45 min
Childhood patterns, school and work trajectory, sleep, mood, focus, what compensating systems you've built and what they cost. Validated screening tools where they add signal. You do most of the talking; I guide.
THE ANSWER~ 10 min
What the picture actually shows — ADHD, something else, or both. If medication is on the table: the specific options, side effects, and trade-offs, not just a prescription. If it isn't, I say so plainly.
AFTERbefore we hang up
Follow-up on the calendar, prescription sent if appropriate, documentation started. You leave with a plan, not a pamphlet.
03/ What I'm actually assessingTHE DIFFERENTIAL
Focus problems have many parents. The evaluation's real work is telling them apart — because the treatments differ, and the wrong label wastes a year.
ADHDlifetime pattern · multiple settings · onset before adulthood·
Anxiety masquerading as ADHDfocus lost to worry, not to distraction·
Sleep disruptionthe great imitator · always assessed·
Depressionconcentration loss with low mood · different treatment·
Plain overloadsometimes the honest answer is the situation, not a disorder·
Co-occurrence is common — ADHD with anxiety, ADHD with sleep debt. The evaluation maps what's primary, what's secondary, and what order to treat them in.
04/ What you leave withSAME DAY
01 · AN ANSWER
A diagnosis — or an honest no.
If it's ADHD, you'll know which presentation and what that means. If it isn't, you'll know what it is instead — and that answer is worth just as much.
stated plainly
02 · A PLAN
Treatment matched to your life.
Medication options with trade-offs spelled out, or non-medication strategy where that's the better tool. First follow-up scheduled before the call ends.
in writing
03 · DOCUMENTATION
Paper that works for you.
Clinical documentation of the diagnosis, suitable for workplace accommodations when appropriate. Prescriptions sent electronically the same day.
same day
05/ Cost & insuranceIN-NETWORK VIA ALMA
In-network with most major commercial plans through Alma — Aetna, Cigna, Optum / UnitedHealthcare, Carelon, and others. Most insured patients pay a copay or coinsurance per visit, which makes a careful evaluation cost about the same as a rushed one.
Initial Evaluation
$425
60 min · self-pay rate · superbill available for out-of-network reimbursement
Follow-Up
$295
30 min · self-pay rate
Unsure about your plan? Send a message — you'll get a straight answer before you book.
06/ Common questions6 ANSWERS
Yes. A clinical ADHD evaluation is a structured history and examination — work that translates fully to secure video. California licensure covers telehealth statewide, and controlled-substance prescribing via telehealth is permitted within current regulations when clinically appropriate. What you need: privacy, a camera, a stable connection.
Booking to answer: usually one to two weeks. The evaluation itself is a single sixty-minute visit, and you leave it with the diagnosis conversation done and a plan in hand. If treatment starts, the first follow-up lands two to three weeks later.
Helpful, not required. Most adults don't have them. A careful history can establish childhood patterns without paperwork — how school actually went, what teachers said, what it cost you to keep up. If you have old records, bring them; if not, don't let that delay you.
If the evaluation supports a diagnosis and medication is the right tool, yes — prescriptions are sent electronically the same day. But the prescription follows the diagnosis, never the other way around. If medication isn't warranted, you'll hear that plainly, with what I'd suggest instead.
Then you've learned something more useful than a wrong label. The same symptoms can come from anxiety, sleep disorders, depression, or sustained overload — and each has its own treatment. The evaluation names what's actually happening, and we treat that. That answer is the point, whichever way it goes.
Usually not a from-scratch one. An established diagnosis with records gets a focused review: confirm the picture, assess what's changed, and rebuild the treatment plan around your current life. If you're on a working regimen, continuity comes first.
A careful answer beats a fast one.
Sixty minutes. A real differential. A plan you understand — or an honest no. Book the evaluation through the secure portal.