Patient Portal

Due to the complexities involving the insurance-payor model unique to the United States, healthcare pricing and payments can be very confusing. We do our best to simplify this process and make it fair.

1. Pricing transparency: We do our best to collect patients' out-of-pocket responsibilities upfront. We do this by having to predict what the insurance company will pay us ahead of time. Though this is many times a very difficult task, this has the benefit of patients knowing fees upfront.
   Due to complex insurance policies sometimes we mistakenly undercharge patients. In these cases, we may send patients bills after insurance has processed claims. But if we did not correctly identify the amount due prior, and if the amount due is significant, our practice's business ethics policy allows patients to let us know of financial hardship as they were unaware of the final amount due. We do not send these bills to collections but rather write them off as business losses.
   As a general guideline, we use the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule as a benchmark of what would be a reasonable expected amount due for any given service. 

2. Medicare: The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule has a standard set of prices for various medical services. In general these prices are on the low end in terms of off-setting the costs associated with running a medical practice. We expect Medicare patients to honor outstanding dues as these amounts are set by CMS, a federal government agency, and are related to Medicare deductibles and co-insurance, which, compared to private insurance plans, are much more transparent to the patient and general public.

3. Unpaid bills: If we have an outstanding balance that is fair and reasonable and that we have not written off, we may excuse ourselves from provide any ongoing services related to non-urgent or medically non-essential matters. Though most patients pay their balances in a timely fashion, we unfortunately have a notable percentage of patients who do not pay after a service is rendered. Per our ethical policy, we will always "close the loop" with patients and other doctors on urgent or significant medical conditions. But for routine issues, we may not work on behalf of the patient until the balance is paid. Records can always be requested from our office or the administering lab or facility where services were rendered. We are a small medical practice, and rely on receiving payments for services rendered to cover our operating expenses.