If your pain management provider has referred you for a behavioral health evaluation before a spinal cord stimulator (SCS), you may be wondering why it’s necessary or what to expect.
First, it’s important to understand that this evaluation does not mean your provider doubts your pain or believes it’s “all in your head.”
Living with chronic pain can affect nearly every part of your life. A behavioral health evaluation is a routine part of preparing for spinal cord stimulation, and many insurance plans and surgeons require it before an SCS trial.
At Alfrey & Pruitt Counseling Services in Grand Island, Nebraska, we provide treatment-readiness evaluations in a respectful, straightforward setting.
Referred for an SCS evaluation?
In person in Grand Island or by telehealth. Reports sent to your provider within one week.
Request an Appointment or call (308) 675-2858
What Is an SCS Behavioral Health Evaluation?
A spinal cord stimulator behavioral health evaluation is a focused clinical interview that explores psychological and behavioral factors relevant to your readiness for treatment.
Rather than questioning whether your pain is real, the evaluation helps your care team better understand your experience with chronic pain, how you’ve managed it, and what you hope to gain from spinal cord stimulation.
Your clinician will discuss:
- Your pain history: How pain affects your work, sleep, activity, relationships, and daily responsibilities.
- Previous treatments: What you’ve tried and how those treatments have affected you.
- Coping strategies: How you manage pain, stress, and difficult days.
- Understanding and expectations: What you know about the SCS procedure and what you’re hoping it will change.
- Medical follow-through: Your experience managing appointments, recommendations, and ongoing care.
- Emotional well-being: Mood, anxiety, stress, substance use, and available support.
The evaluation may also include brief, standard questionnaires about mood, anxiety, and coping.
Afterward, your clinician prepares a clinical summary and recommendations for your referring provider. Recommendations may include additional counseling support when helpful.
Why Is It Part of the SCS Process?
Chronic pain is more than a physical sensation. It can interrupt sleep, limit independence, affect relationships, and make everyday activities exhausting.
Over time, these experiences may also influence mood, stress, and the ways people cope with difficult symptoms.
These factors matter because spinal cord stimulation is one part of a broader treatment process. Understanding your expectations, coping resources, and emotional well-being helps your medical team consider your needs as a whole person.
Having anxiety, depression, or difficulty coping with pain does not automatically mean spinal cord stimulation is inappropriate for you.
The purpose is to identify relevant concerns, strengths, and possible support needs so your pain provider has additional information when making treatment decisions.
What to Expect
We aim to make the referral and evaluation process as straightforward as possible.
1. Your pain clinic provides the referral
Your referring clinic will provide a referral information sheet and may also give you intake paperwork.
The completed referral sheet is required before we can schedule your evaluation.
2. Our office contacts you
Once we receive the referral information, our office will contact you to arrange an appointment.
You can complete your intake paperwork through our online client portal or use the paperwork provided by your referring clinic.
3. Complete your paperwork
All required intake paperwork must be completed before your appointment.
If your paperwork is incomplete, your appointment will need to be rescheduled.
For telehealth appointments, paperwork must be completed no later than the day before your evaluation.
4. Meet with your clinician
During your appointment, you’ll participate in a focused interview about your pain, previous treatments, daily functioning, coping, emotional health, and expectations for spinal cord stimulation.
You can discuss your experiences openly. The goal is to develop an accurate understanding of your circumstances, not to judge how well you’ve handled chronic pain.
5. Your provider receives the report
Your clinician prepares a written clinical summary with findings and recommendations.
With your signed release of information, the completed evaluation is sent to your referring provider within one week of your appointment.
Evaluations completed by provisionally licensed clinicians are reviewed and signed by a licensed supervisor before release.
In-Person or Telehealth
Alfrey & Pruitt Counseling Services offers spinal cord stimulator behavioral health evaluations in person at our Grand Island office or through telehealth.
In-person appointments: Visit us at 403 Lexington Cir, Grand Island, NE 68803.
Telehealth appointments: Meet with your clinician remotely without traveling to Grand Island.
For telehealth, you’ll need an email address to receive appointment information and access your paperwork. All required forms must be completed by the day before your appointment.
Telehealth can be especially convenient for patients traveling from Hastings, Kearney, or smaller central Nebraska communities.
How to Prepare
You don’t need to study or prepare specific answers. A little organization can help your appointment go smoothly.
- Complete your paperwork early. Review your intake forms and make sure everything is submitted before your appointment.
- Think about treatments you’ve tried. Be ready to discuss medications, procedures, therapies, and other approaches you’ve used to manage pain.
- Consider your goals. What activities or parts of daily life are you hoping spinal cord stimulation might help you manage?
- Have your medication list available. An updated list can help your clinician understand your current treatment.
- Check your email for telehealth. Make sure you can access the email address associated with your appointment.
You don’t need to present yourself as doing better or worse than you actually are. Accurate information is what makes the evaluation useful.
For Referring Providers
Alfrey & Pruitt Counseling Services works with pain management clinics and referring medical providers throughout central Nebraska to provide SCS behavioral health treatment-readiness evaluations.
We accept referrals from Grand Island, Hastings, and Kearney, including outreach clinics serving Minden, St. Paul, and Hebron.
Our referral process:
- Send the referral information sheet. A completed referral sheet is required before scheduling.
- We coordinate scheduling. Our office contacts referred patients directly and assists with the intake process.
- We manage referral follow-up. Patients who cancel, do not attend, or do not respond after our outreach are referred back to your office for further coordination.
- We provide timely documentation. Completed clinical summaries and recommendations are sent within one week of the appointment with the patient’s signed release.
- We maintain supervisory oversight. Reports prepared by provisionally licensed clinicians receive licensed supervisor review and signature before release.
Our evaluations focus on psychological and behavioral considerations relevant to treatment readiness, including pain-related functioning, coping, expectations, emotional health, and treatment engagement.
We also provide other pre-procedure behavioral health evaluations when requested by the care team.
The referring medical provider remains responsible for determining the patient’s medical treatment plan and whether to proceed with spinal cord stimulation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does needing this evaluation mean my doctor thinks the pain is in my head?
No. Chronic pain is a real experience, and being referred for a behavioral health evaluation does not mean your provider questions that. Many insurance plans and surgeons require this step before an SCS trial. The evaluation considers how pain affects your daily life, emotional well-being, and coping, alongside the medical care you’re already receiving.
Can I “fail” the evaluation?
This isn’t a pass-or-fail examination. Your clinician assesses factors that may be relevant to treatment readiness and documents findings and recommendations for your medical team. Sometimes recommendations include additional support, such as counseling. The purpose is to provide useful clinical information, not to judge you or your experience with pain.
Who makes the final decision about my spinal cord stimulator?
Your pain management provider or treating medical team makes the medical decision about whether spinal cord stimulation is appropriate for you. Our clinicians provide a behavioral health assessment and written recommendations to inform that decision. We do not provide medical clearance or determine whether you can proceed with the procedure.
Can I do it by telehealth?
Yes. We offer telehealth behavioral health evaluations as well as in-person appointments in Grand Island. You’ll need an email address to receive appointment information and access your paperwork. All required intake forms must be completed by the day before your telehealth appointment. Our office can discuss scheduling options when we contact you.
How long until my doctor gets the results?
We send the completed evaluation to your referring provider within one week of your appointment, provided we have your signed release of information. Reports include a clinical summary and relevant recommendations. When a provisionally licensed clinician conducts the evaluation, a licensed supervisor reviews and signs the report before it is released.
Will insurance cover it?
Many insurance plans require a behavioral health evaluation before a spinal cord stimulator trial, but a requirement for an evaluation does not necessarily mean the appointment is covered. Coverage and patient responsibility depend on your specific insurance benefits. Contact our office if you have questions about insurance before scheduling.
Schedule Your SCS Behavioral Health Evaluation
If you’ve been referred for a spinal cord stimulator evaluation, we’re here to help you understand the process and take the next step.
Call (308) 675-2858 or request an appointment with Alfrey & Pruitt Counseling Services.
403 Lexington Cir, Grand Island, NE 68803
For referring providers: Contact our office at (308) 675-2858 to coordinate referrals or discuss pre-procedure behavioral health evaluation services.