ADHD Direct or Focus Forward 360 Assessment?
A Guide to Help You Decide Which Option is Right for You
Our ADHD Direct Assessment is offered by a Family Physician with a focused practice in mental health, along with a Registered Nurse, forming our MD-Nurse Team. Our Focus Forward 360 Assessment involves a Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Psychometrist and in some cases a Family Physician or Paediatrician. Feedback with our Family Physician, 3) Recommendations and Next Steps Discussion with the Nurse, and 4) Medication Consultation with our Family Physician.
Differences between the two ADHD Assessment services are summarized in the Table below. Please note that the ADHD Direct Assessment does not offer services provided by a registered Psychologist or Psychological Associate. If your insurer requires Psychology involvement for assessment coverage, the ADHD Direct option may not qualify for reimbursement. We recommend that you check with your insurance provider before proceeding. If the ADHD Direct Assessment does not qualify for reimbursement, the Focus Forward 360 Assessment may be a better option for you if it is covered by your insurer.
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Comparison of ADHD DIRECT and FOCUS FORWARD 360 ASSESSMENTS
| SERVICE COMPONENTS | ADHD DIRECT | FOCUS FORWARD 360 |
|---|---|---|
| Physician Referral | Preferred | Preferred |
| Direct Testing of Attention | √ | √ |
| Hours of Direct Testing (Approximate) | 0.5 | 2 |
| Number of Patient Sessions with Clinicians for Data Gathering, Testing, Intake Interviews, and Feedback | 4 | 5 |
| Clinical Intake Interviews | √ | √ |
| Review of Questionnaires and relevant Medical and Developmental History Documentation | √ | √ |
| Nurse on Diagnostic Team | √ | |
| Physician on Diagnostic Team | √ | √ |
| Psychologist or Psychological Associate on Diagnostic Team | √ | |
| Psychiatrist on Diagnostic Team | √ | |
| Diagnostic Information and Medication Treatment Plan sent to Referring Doctor | √ | √ |
| Standard Accommodations List with Diagnostic Statement (if applicable) | √ | √ |
| Personalized Patient Report summarizing Test Results and providing Accommodations List based on Test Findings | √ | |
| Formal Measures of Functional Impairment | √ | |
| Access to Therapies at Possibilities | YES [at added cost] | YES [at added cost] |
| Insurance Coverage | Private Insurance Plans generally do NOT cover Nursing sessions. Please check with your provider. | Private Insurance Plans generally cover Psychology sessions. Please check with your provider. |
| Cost | $1200 | $2750 |
Only Medical Doctors are covered by OHIP. Nurses and Psychologists are not covered, and neither are any testing materials and questionnaires we use to help make accurate diagnoses. Check with your provider to see which professions your insurance covers. Any coverage you have for a specific profession may help you determine which assessment service you would like to pursue. While the ADHD Direct option is less costly, if your insurer requires Psychology involvement for assessment coverage, the ADHD Direct option may not qualify for reimbursement since a Psychologist is not involved. Consider our Focus Forward 360 Assessment if you require Psychology involvement for reimbursement.
No. No matter what form of assessment we do, it’s our responsibility to examine data and clinical information to determine whether the findings support—or do not support—a diagnosis. So in cases where findings do not support a diagnosis of ADHD, a diagnosis won’t be given.
ADHD often exists with other diagnoses called comorbidities. Some comorbidities can make diagnosing ADHD accurately really hard to do. Is it ADHD? Is it something else that looks like ADHD but isn’t ADHD? Or is it ADHD plus another diagnosis—or diagnoses—that also require accurate identification to support functioning? Both our ADHD Direct and Focus Forward 360 Assessments examine ADHD and potential comorbidities like anxiety and depression. Other mental health comorbidities can further complicate the picture, making it challenging to disentangle symptoms. Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, for example, can occur together with ADHD, or have symptoms that mimic ADHD symptoms but occur without ADHD in the diagnostic picture. For individuals where the presentation of mental health symptoms is relatively complicated, the larger Multidisciplinary Team associated with our Focus Forward 360 Assessment may be a better fit, though you are welcome to choose either assessment option.
If you are wondering whether a Learning Disability or Autism is present, a separate assessment focused on the symptoms of these specific diagnoses is required. Our Signature Psychoeducational Assessment is a comprehensive offering that examines symptoms of ADHD, a Learning Disability, and Mental health (e.g., anxiety, depression). We also have an Autism Assessment to determine whether Autism can be diagnosed. If you are wondering whether Autism and ADHD are occurring together, combining the Autism assessment with either an ADHD Direct Assessment or a Focus Forward 360 Assessment is recommended, and something we could offer.
Adults, teens, and children 6 years of age and older are eligible to receive either type of ADHD Assessment.
Each Assessment Team has its own protocol for potential medication management once a Treatment Plan is devised after the assessment. Please check details on the ADHD Direct and the Focus Forward 360 Assessment pages on our website to see what each option provides.
An MD referral is required for the Focus Forward 360 Assessment option.
For our ADHD Direct Assessment, if you do not have a physician referral, then the first visit with the Physician in this service must be in-person. If you have a referral from your doctor for an ADHD Direct Assessment at Possibilities, then all of your appointments with the Nurse and the Physician will be virtual over secure video sessions.
No problem! We’re here to help. At Possibilities we offer a complimentary 20-minute session with a member of our Next Steps Navigation Team. Members of this team are professionals from education and healthcare. During a session a member of the team will listen to your questions and concerns, offer more detail about the two options, and help clarify which assessment seems best suited to address your needs.
If you’d like to book the ADHD Direct Assessment, a Focus Forward 360 Assessment, or a session with our Next Steps Navigation Team, please contact us at info@possibilitiesclinic.com or 1-833-482-5558. You may also get started by completing our Registration Form.
