At Rula, your mental health journey matters deeply to us - and so does making sure you get the support that's right for you. We believe therapy should feel personal, flexible, and centered around you. That's why we use pre-appointment check-ins to learn more about your symptoms and experience in therapy. These check-ins are part of an evidence-based form of care called Measurement-Informed Care (MIC), which your therapist is trained to utilize as part of your therapy experience here at Rula.
MIC helps support you and your therapist by tracking your progress, noticing when things change, and helping therapy stay aligned with your goals.
You might be wondering:
- What is MIC?
- How does it actually help me?
- Will this affect my insurance coverage?
Let’s walk through it together.
What is Measurement-Informed Care (MIC)?
Think of therapy like a journey. You know where you want to go - feeling better, healing, growing, meeting your goals - but the path isn’t always straight.
These check-ins act like your GPS or compass.
It’s like checking a map during a road trip; it helps you and your therapist see where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to go.
Rula’s appointment check-ins involve filling out brief, research-backed questionnaires at regular intervals. These surveys ask about your mood, stress levels, safety concerns, and your relationship with your therapist.
These tools aren't tests. They don't grade you or determine if you’re excelling or “failing” in therapy. They are simply there to help your therapist understand your experience more clearly and work with you to adjust your therapy as needed. They also help you to see your own progress over time. This helps to personalize your care and make sure you’re moving toward the goals that matter most to you.
Research shows that clients who engage in Measurement-Informed Care experience better outcomes, drop out of therapy less often, and feel more satisfied with their treatment (Lambert et al., 2001; Bickman et al., 2011).
How These Surveys Benefit You
MIC surveys aren't just about collecting information; it’s about actively using it to guide and strengthen your therapy experience. Just like a GPS recalculates when the road ahead changes, your therapist uses these check-ins to recalibrate your therapy journey, keeping you in control and moving forward. Here's how you might experience it:
Better Progress Tracking:
You’ll see your growth more clearly over time. Even small wins can be easy to miss when you’re in the middle of hard work. With enough of these completed surveys, you and your therapist can identify growth patterns and celebrate progress.
More Personalized Care:
Your therapist can adjust their approach based on real-time feedback from you, ensuring that sessions stay aligned with your goals and needs.
Empowerment in Your Journey:
You become an active partner in your own care. You and your therapist can have open conversations about what’s working, what might need adjusting, and how to move forward together.
Spotting Challenges Early:
If something isn’t improving or new challenges arise, MIC helps identify it early. This allows you and your therapist to identify patterns and shift strategies and get you the right support faster.
In every case, these check-in surveys are meant to deepen the collaboration between you and your therapist, making your sessions more responsive and meaningful.
Clearing Up Common Myths and Roadblocks
You might wonder whether completing these surveys could impact your insurance coverage, your ongoing access to therapy, or your records. Let’s set the record straight:
For most plans, your insurance coverage is not affected by your MIC survey responses.
Most Insurance companies do not solely use MIC scores to make decisions about your coverage, eligibility, or costs of care. It’s important to remember, however, that these check-ins are part of your clinical record, so can be considered a source of information about your care and progress alongside your therapist’s documentation of sessions.
Please note that the MIC survey cadence for Kaiser patients is changing, rolling out in phases between June and July 2026. Kaiser patients are required to complete these surveys. Completing these brief surveys before your appointments is a contractual requirement from Kaiser to maintain your care coverage through your insurance plan. Kaiser administrators use these measures to track your progress and ensure network compliance.
Survey data is confidential and protected.
Just like everything else you share in therapy, your survey responses are private and secured under HIPAA, the same strict privacy rules that protect all your health information.
These MIC surveys are part of improving care, not evaluating you.
Measurement tools are there to help your therapist understand your needs, not to judge you. MIC helps personalize therapy and helps you see results quicker.
I don’t have enough time to complete my pre-appointment check-in.
Understandable! We are all busy and have a thousand things competing for our time. Setting aside even just 5 minutes to complete MIC surveys before your sessions start can be a great way to reflect before diving in with your therapist. Difficulties with feeling like you have enough time may also be an opportunity to reflect on your relationship with time, whether it’s challenges with time management, prioritizing your mental health, or setting boundaries. These patterns can affect your well-being and progress, and are worth exploring with your therapist’s support.
I feel like I’m answering these questions too often.
Rula’s surveys are powered by scientifically backed tools to track your symptoms. In order for these tools to be most effective, Rula follows their established protocols and timelines for effective use.
In Short: These Surveys Are for You
At Rula, we use MIC because it puts you at the center of your therapy. It's about making sure your voice is heard, your progress is visible, and your care is truly personalized to you.
Every journey has ups and downs- and these surveys help you and your therapist navigate them with more clarity, flexibility, and partnership.
If you ever have questions about these check-ins or anything else in your care, your therapist is there to support you. You can also reach out to our Rula Support team any time!
References
- Lambert, M. J., Whipple, J. L., Hawkins, E. J., Vermeersch, D. A., Nielsen, S. L., & Smart, D. W. (2001). Is it time for clinicians to routinely track patient outcome? A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 8(3), 288–301.
- Bickman, L., Kelley, S. D., Breda, C., de Andrade, A. R., & Riemer, M. (2011). Effects of routine feedback to clinicians on mental health outcomes of youths: Results of a randomized trial. Psychiatric Services, 62(12), 1423–1429.
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