FINANCIAL POLICY AND ASSIGNMENT OF BENEFITS
Payment is due at time of service: For all patients who have an insurance policy with which we have no contractual relationship and for patients who have no insurance, we will file your claim to your insurance company as a courtesy. A delayed or nonpaid claim by your insurance carrier is not the responsibility of Hybrid Medical Solution. If there are any past due balances on your account, the office of Hybrid Medical Solution will require that the past due balance be paid in full or payment arrangements be made before any new appointments will be scheduled. This office reserves the right to cancel any appointments if balances are not resolved.
Co-pays or deductibles are due at time of service: For any patient who has an insurance plan with whom we are contracted, the insurance carrier may bill deductibles, co-pays, and coinsurance amounts to the patient after payment. Hybrid Medical Solution reserves the right to bill the patient if the insurance company has not paid for the service within 60 days of the service. Any service that the carrier deems it is a non-covered service is the responsibility of the patient and will be payable in full within 30 days after receipt of billing statement.
Check payment policy: There will be a $35 Returned Check Fee to your account for every check returned to the office for insufficient funds. A patient who issues two (2) non-sufficient funds checks must make all future payments by cash, money order, or credit card.
Responsible Party: It is the policy of Hybrid Medical Solution for any patient who is 18 years or older will be responsible for all charges incurred. Patients under the age of 18, the legal guardian or parent will be financially responsible for all charges incurred.
Missed or Late Appointments: The office will charge a missed appointment fee of $50 for any appointments that are missed without notification being received in our office within 24 hours of the appointment. Email notification or a phone call is acceptable. If you are late for your appointment, the office may consider you as a no-show and reserve the right to charge a no-show fee.
Labs:For all labs drawn in the office, there is a $20 draw fee. If you do not wish to pay the fee, you are able to have your labs drawn at the lab of your choosing. If you have any deductibles, coinsurances, or co-pays for labs per your insurance, that will be your responsibility. If you do go to an outside lab for bloodwork, we cannot guarantee that we can help you with any bills that may arise from the lab.
If you are requesting our office to draw labs that were ordered by another physician, the draw fee will be $40. Also keep in mind that we can not help you if with any bills that my arise as a consequence of what another physician has ordered. You will be responsible for contacting our office and getting these results to the doctor that originally ordered them.
OFFICE POLICY
Medication Policy
As a courtesy to our patients, we will do our best to make sure that you never run out of your medications, however, please be aware of our office policies:
1. Our office will try to give you enough medication and refills to get you to your next appointment. Please have all your medications refilled at each routine follow-up appointment and not between appointments.
2. Please bring all your original medication bottles with you to your visits. If this is not possible, bring a picture of your medication bottles with you. Please do not ask us to refill medications that we have no record of in your chart.
3. If you need medications called in to your pharmacy, please notify us of your request before noon. If you require the medication for the same day, contact your pharmacy well before our office closes to make sure your prescription is ready and please notify us before 4:30 PM if it is not. Remember, it is your responsibility to notify us that you need your medications. Do not depend on the pharmacy to contact us.
4. No refills will be called in after hours or on weekends.
5. Due to new changes in government mandated healthcare policies, all prescriptions will be done electronically. Very few handwritten prescriptions will be given. Please make sure our office has your correct pharmacy information. If your pharmacy informs you that they did not get the prescription, please first ask them to check their electronic system.
6. Antibiotics cannot be prescribed unless you have been examined by one of our providers. The only exception to this rule is if you are being treated for a chronic infection that has been evaluated recently. If the provider feels that you do not require antibiotics, you may request to be reevaluated if your symptoms get worse or do not improve. If you are told you do not require antibiotics, it is always because we have your best interest in mind.
7. If your medication is denied by your insurance plan, please call your insurance company, and request a list of preferred medications. Getting the best medications for your treatment may require extra work on your part as well as ours.
8. Generic medications are usually safe and effective, but a few are vastly inferior to their brand-name counterpart. Most new medications do not have a generic substitute. If your pharmacy gives you medication with a name that is different from the one on the prescription you were given by us, please notify our office. We cannot vouch for the safety, drug interactions, and efficacy of medications other than the ones that we prescribed to you.
9. Controlled Substance Refills: All controlled substances require a visit every three (3) months to be refilled. There are no exceptions to this policy. Sick visits, pre-op clearance visits and other visits unrelated to the controlled substance diagnosis do not count. You will also be asked to do random urine drug screens. We will be checking the national controlled substance database with every visit. If you are getting a controlled substance from any other physician, you must let us know. You will also be asked to sign a controlled substance agreement. Any unwillingness to follow our policies may result in a denial of your medication. Any concerning irregularities may result in discharge from our practice.
10. As we do not like for any of our patients to be without medications, if your refill has been denied, we may send in enough medication to last until the date of your appointment, provided your appointment is made within 10 days of the prescription denial. Remember that a face-to-face visit and blood work will be required for most refills so please make arrangements for both prior to running out of medications.
11. Prescriptions will not be given if you have not been seen in a reasonable amount of time based on the severity of your condition. This is usually at the providers discretion. The following schedule may help you plan your appointments. Keep in mind, this is a general guideline and does not apply to all patients:
a. Monthly or less (acute conditions): Coumadin monitoring, uncontrolled diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension, severe depression or anxiety, acute pain, infections, and most life-threatening acute illnesses.
b. Every 3 months (chronic serious conditions): Controlled diabetes, heart disease, anemia, lung disease, recent cancer diagnosis, uncontrolled high cholesterol, newly diagnosed hypertension, or uncontrolled hypertension. Controlled substance prescriptions also need 3 month visits.
c. Every 6 months (chronic stable conditions): Controlled hypertension, controlled high cholesterol, controlled thyroid disease, controlled depression or anxiety, controlled asthma, migraine headaches. Most healthy patients on regular medications will probably fall into this category.
d. Every 12 months (routine health maintenance with no current problems): All healthy patients over 30 who are on regular medications and some patients under 30 on intermittent medications.
Laboratory Policy: We will make every effort to order the blood work that we think is most appropriate for your needs. We have spent years researching labs and lab tests that are available for our patients. We make every effort to make sure that the tests we order are accurate and affordable. There are times that we use labs that are not in network with your insurance, but we make sure that your out of pocket expense remains reasonable. You may always choose to have basic labs only and you may request the lab to which you want your blood work sent. In this case we are not able to help with any bills. You are responsible for all co-pays and deductibles. We can usually help with any bills for labs that were considered "noncovered" provided you used one of the labs that we recommend. Before paying any lab bill, please provide our office with a copy of the bill.
Provider Policy: The providers in this practice are all interchangeable. Although you may request to see one of the providers specifically, we cannot guarantee that you will be seeing the provider of your preference at every visit. All the providers of this practice are equally capable of handling all situations and have access to all your medical records.
Results Policy: All labs are required to be reviewed in person during a visit. Our labs are very detailed and extensive, and most patients will have multiple questions about the results. We do not believe in having a medical assistant call and say “everything is fine”. For all imaging results, if you have not heard from us directly, that means we have not seen your results. “No news is good news” is not a policy in this office.
Contacting This Office: Always try calling first. This office gets a very high volume of calls and our phones can get tied up for extended periods of time. You always have the option to email any questions or requests to our office. Please request a printed copy of our emails from the front desk.