For Referring Clinicians: Ketamine Therapy Referrals in Tampa
For psychiatrists, therapists and physicians in the Tampa Bay area: how our clinic delivers ketamine therapy, how to refer a patient, and how we coordinate care with you.
Clinicians can refer patients to Clear Ketamine Therapy by calling (656) 269-4567, and patients may also contact us on their own without a referral. Treatment is a small subcutaneous injection of compounded ketamine, given only at our Tampa clinic with a clinician monitoring throughout and never prescribed for home use. With the patient's permission, we coordinate with you, because ketamine therapy is meant to supplement ongoing care rather than replace it.
How do you refer a patient for ketamine therapy?
Call the clinic at (656) 269-4567 during clinic hours, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, or give your patient our details so they can request a consultation themselves. No formal referral is required for a patient to be seen, and patients can book directly.
With the patient's permission, the following information makes the first evaluation more efficient:
- Working diagnosis and relevant history
- Prior treatments, including medication trials and psychotherapy, with duration and response
- Current medications and supplements, with doses
- Medical history relevant to ketamine, particularly hypertension, cardiovascular disease and substance use
- The specific questions you want the evaluation to answer
Our clinical model
The essentials, in the order clinicians usually ask about them:
- Route: subcutaneous injection, with the dose calculated for each patient by the supervising clinician.
- Setting: administered only in the clinic, with a clinician monitoring throughout; never prescribed for home use.
- Not offered: IV infusions, tablets, lozenges or any at-home ketamine.
- Medication: compounded ketamine from a licensed outsourcing facility; it is not FDA-approved.
- Visit length: roughly 90 minutes to two hours, including monitored recovery; a responsible adult drives the patient home, with no driving until the next day.
- Course: individualized, typically a series of sessions over several weeks followed by reassessment.
- Telehealth: consultations, planning and follow-ups only while the patient is physically in Florida, with location confirmed at each visit.
- Medical Director: Jason Saylor, DO, a Florida-licensed physician board-certified in Family Medicine.
- Payment: cash-pay with no insurance billing and no network participation; the patient receives itemized documentation and the full cost of a recommended course in writing before committing.
Which patients may be appropriate to refer?
Early randomized trials of ketamine for depression, including a 2006 NIMH crossover trial and a 2013 two-site trial with a midazolam control, enrolled adults whose major depression had not responded to standard treatment. That remains the population the strongest evidence describes. For PTSD, a 2014 proof-of-concept randomized trial reported rapid symptom reduction at 24 hours, and its authors noted the findings needed replication.
Medical factors weigh heavily. Ketamine raises blood pressure, heart rate and cardiac output, and its prescribing information contraindicates it where a significant rise in blood pressure would be a serious hazard. It is a Schedule III controlled substance, and people with a history of substance misuse may be at greater risk of misuse. Long-term use or abuse has been associated with urological and hepatobiliary complications. Candidacy is decided by our evaluation, not by the referral itself.
How coordination works
With the patient's permission, we coordinate with the psychiatrists, therapists and physicians already involved in their care. Ketamine therapy is intended to add to a patient's ongoing treatment, not to take it over, so we encourage patients to keep their existing appointments and prescribers throughout a course.
Let us know at referral who should be included in coordination and how you prefer to be reached. Medication changes you make during a course are especially important for us to hear about, given ketamine's interactions with opioids, benzodiazepines and other sedating drugs.
Patients in crisis
Ketamine therapy is not an emergency treatment, and a referral is not the right route for a patient in acute crisis. Direct patients at immediate risk to 911 or the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and consider a referral once they are safe and stable.
In person or by telehealth
You can be seen both ways. Consultations, planning conversations, and follow-up visits happen in person at our Tampa clinic or by telehealth — whichever works better for you.
Ketamine itself is always administered in person, at the clinic, with a clinician monitoring you throughout. We do not prescribe ketamine for use at home.
Telehealth visits require you to be physically located in Florida at the time of the visit.
How telehealth works here
- Telehealth is available to patients who are physically located in Florida, and the clinicians providing that care hold active Florida licenses.
- Your location is confirmed at the start of every telehealth visit. If you are not in Florida, the visit does not go ahead.
- Ketamine is never prescribed for you to take at home. It is administered only at our clinic, in person, with a clinician monitoring you throughout — a telehealth visit does not change that.
- You are seen in person before any treatment session, because every session happens at the clinic.
- A telehealth visit never guarantees that treatment will be offered, any more than an in-person evaluation does.
- Telehealth is not for emergencies. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of self-harm, call or text 988, or call 911.
Common questions
No. Patients can contact us directly. A referral from you is still welcome, because it brings history we would otherwise have to reconstruct, and with the patient's permission it lets coordination with you start from the first visit rather than partway through a course.
With the patient's permission, yes. Coordination with existing psychiatrists, therapists and physicians is part of how we work. Tell us at referral who should be involved and how to reach you, and let us know about any medication changes you make while your patient is in a course of treatment.
No. We provide an evaluation and, where appropriate, a monitored course of ketamine therapy. The patient's ongoing psychiatric, psychotherapy and primary care stays with you and their other clinicians, and we encourage patients to keep those appointments throughout treatment.
We are cash-pay, do not bill insurance and are not in any network. Patients receive itemized documentation they can submit to their own plan, and reimbursement depends entirely on the plan. Many plans do not cover compounded ketamine, so patients should check before counting on it.
Sources & further reading
- Ketamine hydrochloride injection: FDA prescribing information (label revised March 2026) — U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed 2026-11-02. Contraindications; 5.6 and 5.7 (hepatobiliary and urological complications); 5.9 and 7.3 (CNS depressants); 9.1 and 9.2 (Schedule III, abuse); 12.2 (cardiovascular effects).
- A randomized trial of an N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist in treatment-resistant major depression (Zarate et al., 2006) — Archives of General Psychiatry, via PubMed. Accessed 2026-11-02.
- Antidepressant efficacy of ketamine in treatment-resistant major depression: a two-site randomized controlled trial (Murrough et al., 2013) — American Journal of Psychiatry, via PubMed. Accessed 2026-11-02.
- Efficacy of intravenous ketamine for treatment of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized clinical trial (Feder et al., 2014) — JAMA Psychiatry, via PubMed. Accessed 2026-11-02.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Accessed 2026-11-02.
Links point to external organizations. Clear Ketamine Therapy does not control their content.
Reviewed by Editorial team. Last reviewed 2026-11-02. Educational information only — not medical advice or a substitute for care from your own clinicians.
Keep reading
- Clinical TeamThe clinical team behind Clear Ketamine Therapy: who is responsible for your care, and what each role does.
- Am I a Candidate?Candidacy for ketamine therapy depends on your diagnosis, treatment history, health, and medications. Learn the factors clinicians weigh — and the next step.
- ResearchThe key studies behind ketamine therapy for depression and PTSD, what each one found, how strong the evidence is, and the questions research has not yet answered.
- Referrals for Ketamine TherapyYou can contact us directly, with no referral. Here is why we still ask about your other clinicians, which records help, and what a first evaluation looks at.
- ContactReach Clear Ketamine Therapy in Tampa. Request a consultation, ask a question, or plan a visit — with clear guidance on what not to send.
Talk with our clinical team
A consultation is a conversation, not a commitment. Ask questions, share what you are comfortable sharing, and learn whether ketamine therapy may be worth considering for you.
Not for emergencies — call or text 988 or 911 if you are in crisis.