We are contracted with many HMOs, PPOs and other health insurance plans including Medicare.  Each plan contains unique rules which must be followed by patients. Please familiarize yourself with the particular benefits and rules of your health care plan since the contract is between you (the patient) and your health insurance carrier.

                                 Co-Pays and Deductibles
It is your responsibility to pay co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles or any balance not paid by your insurance company.  Some companies pay fixed allowances for certain procedures while others pay a percentage of the charge.  Please be aware of your annual deductible and whether or not you have met it.

                                               Billing
As a courtesy, we will initiate a claim to your insurance company on your behalf.  Once our claim has been sent to the insurance company, they send you a copy of your explanation of benefits (EOB) in addition to the one they send our office. It clearly notes what they paid the doctor; co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles, discounts and adjustments.  After we receive our EOB, we will then bill you for any remaining “patient responsibility”. You are responsible for any deductibles, co-insurance, and non-covered services.
We are required by our contracts with your insurer to collect co-payments for services at the time rendered.

                                   Referral authorizations
Certain health insurance plans require that you obtain a referral authorization from your Primary Care Physician (“PCP”) before visiting a specialist’s office like ours. You are responsible for obtaining this referral authorization and keeping track of the number of visits allowed as well as the start/end dates of your referral authorization.

                                     Methods of Payment
We accept VISA, MasterCard, Discover, personal checks, and of course cash.   There is a fee of $25 for any checks returned by your bank. We also accept Care Credit. A Care Credit application can be obtained from our billing office or online at www.carecredit.com .

                                             Self-Pay
For the initial self-pay consultation, we collect the consultation fee in full prior to your seeing the doctor. This fee covers the initial office visit.  Payment arrangements for any additional procedures will be required. For subsequent follow-up appointments we are happy to apply a 25% self-pay discount, but payment is due in full at the time of the visit. If you are self-pay, please let us know ahead of time so that we may give you a complete breakdown of anticipated charges before services are rendered.

                   Auto Accidents and Workman’s Comp Claims
We do NOT handle auto-accident insurance or workman’s compensation claims.  If you need to see one of our doctors as a result of a auto accident or workman’s compensation claim we require payment up front as per our self-pay policy. We will then give you a receipt which you can submit for reimbursement.

                                       Past-due accounts
Due to increased postage, printing costs, and staff time, we will only send you three statements prior to referring your account to a collection agency. We would much rather work with you, so please be prompt in paying your bill or contacting us if you need to make payment arrangements. If we must refer your account to a collection agency we will add a 30%  surcharge.

                                         Forms and Fees
The fees for completing medical forms, disability, Family Medical Leave Act and similar forms are $15.00 each time the form has to be completed. Please complete and sign the form prior to submitting the form to us. Fees must be up to date prior to the release of the form. Please allow one week in order for these forms to be completed.

                             Copying of Medical Records
Patients requesting copies of their medical records will be assessed a fee of $1.00 for the first page and $0.50 for each additional page as well as any postage charges associated with mailing. There is no charge for the forwarding of medical records to other physicians involved in your care.

Appointment No Show/Cancellation Policy
If you are unable to attend an appointment please call the office promptly so we can offer the appointment to another patient. If it is necessary to cancel your scheduled appointment please call by 10 a.m. one (1) working day in advance.  

When you are scheduled for an appointment, that time slot is made unavailable to any other patient.  If you do not show up as planned, we have lost the opportunity to provide our services to another patient. Therefore, you will be responsible for a $40.00 fee for failing to keep a scheduled appointment or for failing to provide our office with at least 24 hours’ notice of a cancellation. In such event, you will be directly billed a no-show/late cancellation fee of $40.00.  Your insurance company will not be billed.  Patients who miss more than two appointments may be dismissed by the practice.

Our current office policy is to make at least one attempt to contact patients one or two days in advance of their appointments as a courtesy reminder. However, patients are ultimately responsible for keeping their appointments.