Daniel Plotkin, MD,
MPH, PhD
Mental Health Assessment and treatment for Adults of all Ages
Thank you for your interest in Dr. Plotkin’s services. Dr. Plotkin is a physician with over 40 years of experience. He has a broad medical background, with advanced training in psychiatry, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy/psychoanalysis, geriatrics, and public health.
Dr. Plotkin is a geriatric psychiatrist, meaning he specializes in the mental health of older adults. He sees younger adult patients as well. Dr. Plotkin has extensive experience providing individual, couples and family psychotherapy, as well as medication consultation and management.
Dr. Plotkin is proudly old school. He schedules and sees patients himself, he has no support or clinical staff. He provides psychotherapy as well as medication consultation.
His approach is very personal, he gets to know his patients as people, from their early lives, successes, failures, strengths, weaknesses.
Dr. Plotkin’s Current Clinical Practice (Patients):
Dr. Plotkin’s practice is currently limited to consultations and short-term treatment (weeks to months). He is occasionally able to see patients for ongoing care, depending on his current caseload. He does not do medication management unless it is for an ongoing therapy patient.
Dr. Plotkin provides consultation and expert witness services for attorneys and their clients.
This often involves issues of capacity, such as capacity to make a will (testamentary capacity), to make a trust (usually involves contractual capacity), and whether an individual is susceptible to “undue influence.”
Practical matters:
- He sees patients in his office on Wednesdays.
- He sees/talks with patients virtually (Zoom, FaceTime, telephone, etc.) most other days.
- He does house calls in the greater Los Angeles area.
Communication:
Office phone: 424-320-4884
Dr. Plotkin is easy to reach. He even answers the phone personally whenever possible! If he doesn’t answer, he checks his office phone messages frequently, and returns calls promptly.
For urgent or emergency situations only: 818-421-8104
Dr. Plotkin only uses email and/or text for logistics, such as making appointments. He does not use email or texting for clinical work such as discussing medication doses, reactions, lab reports, other developments, etc.
If he can address a question or concern by phone in a few minutes between patients, he will gladly do so, otherwise he’ll ask you to make an appointment.
How the initial consultation works:
Dr. Plotkin schedules 75 minutes for the initial consultation.
The consultation is private and confidential. However, sometimes it is helpful to obtain information from family members, friends, or caregivers who accompany the patient.
If this is the case, Dr. Plotkin will provide family members with an opportunity to meet privately with him (with the permission of the patient).
Billing
Dr. Plotkin does not participate in ANY insurance plan (e.g., Medicare, Blue Cross, SAG, etc), so the patient/family is directly responsible for payment in full. Please remit payment (by check, cash, credit card, Zelle) for the initial consultation at the time of service.
Dr. Plotkin has “opted out” of Medicare so it will NOT cover services (a secondary insurer may cover a portion), and Medicare may NOT be billed. Some services may be covered by private (non-Medicare) insurance; Dr. Plotkin will provide a statement that you can send to your insurance company and get reimbursed directly from the insurance company.
About Dr. Plotkin:
- Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
- Clinical Professor (Voluntary) of Psychiatry at UCLA.
- Past President of the Southern California Psychiatric Society.
- First director of the UCLA Alzheimer’s Service.
- Psychoanalyst, one of the few who works with older adults.
Like most people, Dr. Plotkin did not have the most positive view of aging when he started his medical training, and was assigned to a geriatrics unit. But he was surprised to find that he thoroughly enjoyed it.
Not only did he appreciate the older adult patients, he was inspired by the staff who worked in this newly established specialty of geriatrics.
After that initial experience, Dr. Plotkin actively sought out further opportunities to learn about and to serve older adults with mental health conditions, and he has never looked back!