Financial Policies & Payment
Your health coverage is a contract between you and your insurer, not the physician. Third party payers (commercial and government insurers) reimburse the physician according to a negotiated fee schedule. However, if issues arise, the patient is ultimately responsible for payment. As a courtesy to our patients, we will submit your claim to the insurer. You will then receive an EOB (explanation of benefits) in the mail/by email directly from your insurer detailing the amount you are required to pay, if any. We are now in the era of managed care. Insurance companies are concerned about the rising costs of healthcare. In an attempt to control their costs, they share the burden of paying for your healthcare with you. Please understand that we did not select your insurance plan. You will be responsible for any co-payments and/or deductibles or non-covered services specified by your insurer at the time of service. A deductible is the amount of money your insurance company requires you to pay before your plan “kicks in” and covers the rest. You should assume every procedure done in a dermatology office will be applied to your deductible. We reserve the right to collect deductibles and coinsurance up-front PRIOR to certain procedures. We are contractually obligated with your insurer to collect these charges. There are no exceptions. If your insurance requires a REFERRAL to see a specialist, it is your responsibility to ensure our office has that referral PRIOR to your visit. If we do not have a referral, your insurance will not cover the visit and you will be responsible for the cost of the visit. You will also be financially responsible if your health plan is not a plan our office participates in.
We accept payment in the form of cash, personal check, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and CareCredit. There is a $25 returned check policy.
Patients with Out of Network Coverage
If we are not a provider with your insurance plan, you are expected to pay 100% of the charges at the time service is rendered. A claim form will be given at the end of the visit to submit to your insurance company.
Patients with No Insurance Coverage
Self pay patients are required to pay the office visit fee before seeing the physician. If procedures are deemed necessary, the patient will be responsible for these costs as well. We will discuss the estimated charges before the procedure is performed. For larger procedures, such as surgical removal of skin cancer, full payment is required the day the procedure is performed. An estimate of the cost will be provided prior to your surgery.
Pathology and Lab Fees
Diagnostic fees for skin biopsies or excisions are the patient’s responsibility. Facilities our practice uses include D-Path, DermPath, and Inform Diagnostics to name a few. If you have questions about a bill received from one of these entities, you should call the phone number listed on the statement. We do not have the authority to discuss charges or your account balance with these laboratories.
Financial & Collections Policy
As a courtesy, we will file an insurance claim to any carrier we participate in for our services. In order to properly file or appeal a claim, we must have each patients’ current valid insurance card. We will ask for this item when scheduling your first appointment. This ensures we have the most pertinent information on file and we can verify insurance eligibility prior to or on the date of service, thus helping make your visit more efficient.
In order to continue to provide outstanding medical care, we make every effort to collect money owed to our practice for previous treatment. All patient balances are due 30 days from receipt of the statement from our office, or at any follow up visits. If, after several attempts, we fail to collect the outstanding balance, you may be unable to schedule future appointments until that balance is paid in full.