An Important Update from North Star

Dear Patients and Families,

Over the years, North Star Behavioral Health has grown while working to preserve a particular kind of psychiatric practice — one organized around what we have learned through working with patients and families. We have seen the value of care that is not rushed, that remains thoughtful and consistent over time, and that allows patients to continue working with the same clinician.

The work of healing — real healing, not the managed, efficient kind — is most possible with continuity. It benefits from a relationship that can withstand difficulty, absorb rupture, and find its way back. That kind of repair is more likely when the relationship has had time to develop, when patients are known here over time, and when they don’t have to start over.

Until now, continuing care here has been straightforward. Patients schedule visits, return when needed, and remain in the practice over time without having to think much about the structure that supports that work.

The standard of care patients have experienced here — unhurried appointments, continuity with the same clinician, and the ability to reach the practice when something changes — has been the organizing principle of this work. Patients have been part of it simply by continuing their care here.

This year, for the first time, we are asking patients and families to actively choose to continue their care at North Star — not simply to keep scheduling appointments, but to decide, each year, that this is where they want their care to be.

North Star is an independent practice, not part of a hospital system or a larger corporate structure. We organize the practice so that care can remain continuous and responsive—so that patients can be known here over time, rather than having to start over or be transferred between providers.

The administrative infrastructure that supports that work — prescription coordination, clinical coverage when a clinician is unavailable, secure communication, prompt response to patient messages, an after-hours answering service for urgent matters, and coordination with outside providers — has grown more complex as the practice has grown. These are the functions that keep care continuous and accessible between visits. We work to carry out each of them reliably, and are committed to doing so.

As the practice has grown — across age groups, with more collaboration among clinicians, and with more consistent internal coverage — sustaining that administrative work has moved beyond what visit fees alone can cover. This is a decision we did not arrive at lightly. We considered the alternatives carefully before concluding that funding this work directly was the only path that preserved what patients here have come to expect.

The options were limited: reduce the work that happens between visits, increase patient volume, or fund that work directly. The first two would mean delivering less than what patients here have come to expect. This practice has chosen the third.

We are calling this the North Star Care Standard — because that is what it protects. Not a new service or an additional tier of access, but the way care has always been practiced here: unhurried, continuous, and organized around a relationship that has time to develop and repair. The Care Standard is how that is sustained, and how patients actively choose to remain part of it.

Beginning now, patients who choose to continue their care at North Star will do so through enrollment in the North Star Care Standard, an annual fee of $600 per patient. Enrollment will be required beginning October 1, 2026.

For families with more than one member receiving care in the practice, the fee will be $600 for the first family member and $300 for each additional household member, with a maximum of $1,000 per family annually. The fee will be billed once per year and is separate from appointment charges.

Visit fees will remain unchanged. Clinical services will continue to be billed individually at the time of each appointment.

Enrollment is now open. Patients may complete enrollment and payment through a secure online portal. Enrollment runs on a rolling annual basis beginning at the time of enrollment — a patient who enrolls in May 2026 will renew in May 2027. Patients who have already enrolled do not need to take any further steps. The enrollment period will remain open through September 30, 2026.

We recognize that this structure may not be the right fit for everyone. Some patients — including some who have been part of this practice for a long time — may choose not to continue here. We do not take that possibility lightly.

If the annual fee would create a genuine financial hardship, please contact us directly. We want to make sure it does not interfere with your care.

Patients who have not enrolled by September 30, 2026 will need to transition their care to another provider. We will reach out directly and help make that process as straightforward as possible. We are grateful for the work we have done together, and we wish every patient well regardless of the path they choose.

Additional information about the North Star Care Standard, including answers to common questions, is available below. Patients and families may complete enrollment through Hint Health, our enrollment platform, using the following link: https://northstarbh.hint.com/signup.

The broader direction of healthcare is toward greater efficiency and scale — a direction that makes consistency, unhurried appointments, and meaningful access to your clinician increasingly difficult to sustain. The patients and families who remain at North Star will have chosen something different — care built around a relationship that develops over time, where continuity makes repair possible. Protecting that is what this is about.