What are your fees and payment options?

Is Dr. Finnerty accepting patients for ongoing counseling or psychotherapy

Social Media Policy & Privacy Practices

Dr. Finnerty may sometimes use assistants to help him process your information such as the staff at his accountant's office, a virtual assistant and Ruby Receptionists to answer the phone. These assistants only have access to the information necessary to get their jobs done and help Dr. Finnerty help you. You can learn more about privacy practices and related issues here.

General Exam & Testing Related Questions

Which states can Dr. Finnerty provide telehealth examinations to? Dr. Finnerty offers opinions based on medical records reviews to people located anywhere in the world. Dr. Finnerty resides in Ohio where Dr. Finnerty is licensed as a psychologist (#5979) and can see anyone physically located in Ohio with this license either in person at his office or via telehealth. A telehealth videoconferencing exam (ex: using Microsoft Teams or Zoom) is an option to anyone located in Ohio and the majority of other states where Dr. Finnerty can legally examine someone via telehealth through PSYPACT; (this PSYPACT link has a map of participating states where Dr. Finnerty can do telehealth exams to using reciprocity with his Ohio license).

Do you provide Emotional Support Animal Letters? No.

Are your evaluations really independent if a specific person or organization is paying for it? Yes, Dr. Finnerty's goal is to offer an independent opinion. Dr. Finnerty works for himself and has multiple streams of income. He is not reliant on any one referral source. Dr. Finnerty does his best to act ethically and within relevant professional guidelines. For example, the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology Guideline 1.02 notes forensic practitioners "strive for accuracy, impartiality, fairness, and independence." It notes "forensic practitioners recognize the adversarial nature of the legal system and strive to treat all participants and weigh all data, opinions, and rival hypotheses impartially. When conducting forensic examinations, forensic practitioners strive to be unbiased and impartial, and avoid partisan presentation of unrepresentative, incomplete, or inaccurate evidence that might mislead finders of fact." Dr. Finnerty's practices are also consistent with the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Dr. Finnerty is not dependent on large payouts from disability insurance companies and/or attorneys involved in workers' compensation claims or disability insurance claims. Sometimes individuals/attorneys/organizations are concerned about potential bias due to a professional obtaining a significant percentage of their income from a specific company or referral source (such as attorneys for injured workers or attorneys for employers involved in workers' compensation claims). However, Dr. Finnerty's income is not primarily related to IME's or records reviews for disability insurance companies. Dr. Finnerty prides himself on being an independent advocate for the facts in a case.

Questions related to Veterans'/ VA disability claims, including writing nexus letters and/or exams for Disability Benefits Quesionnaires (DBQ's)

Dr. Finnerty also has a free email newsletter related to his work on Veterans' disability claims that you can subscribe to here.

What is the general process for obtaining a nexus letter from Dr. Finnerty? You can get an overview of "how it works" here.

What issues can Dr. Finnerty help with in relation to a VA disability exam? You can get a summary of what issues Dr. Finnerty can help with here.

How do I get a DBQ? Dr. Finnerty only completes PTSD and Mental Disorders DBQ's (disability benefits questionnaires) if he has performed an examination. You can schedule a telehealth examination here (this is also the link tos schedule a free 15 minute phone consult to ask questions first). At this time the only other DBQ Dr. Finnerty will complete is the sleep apnea DBQ via a records review for an additional fee.

Social Security Disability Related Questions

How can I learn more about books Dr. Finnerty has written?