Your Questions, Answered
What insurance plans do you accept?
What are your guidelines regarding appointments?
How do I get a prescription refill?
How do I get a copy of my medical records?
How can I get my insurance forms filled out?
What are your policies regarding insurance?
Do you take uninsured patients?
Can I make an appointment if I have an outstanding balance?
How can I make a payment?
What is your policy regarding delinquent accounts?
What insurance plans do you accept?
Carolinas Coastal Health accepts Medicare and most major insurances. Please call our office to confirm your carrier and plan. All co-payments and deductibles are due at the time of service. Please bring your insurance card to each visit so that we can verify coverage and ensure payment from your insurance company.
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What are your guidelines regarding appointments?
Our staff can schedule your appointment during office hours. We place a great deal of effort in seeing our patients on time. Therefore, patients who arrive late and/or unprepared with the appropriate forms and insurance information may be asked to reschedule their appointment in order to maintain a timely schedule and out of consideration for our other scheduled patients.
A patient who is late to an appointment by 15 minutes must reschedule out of consideration for other patients who are already waiting to be seen. If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, we require a 48-hour notice from new patients and a 24-hour notice from established patients. Patients who fail to notify the office of cancellation in this time period may be subject to the missed appointment fee below.
A missed appointment results in a loss of time that could have been reserved for another patient and also income upon which our office relies to continue providing medical care. Therefore, you will be charged a $25 fee to your account for a missed appointment. This fee is not covered by insurance. Patients who miss three appointments in one calendar year will be terminated from the practice.
Abusive treatment (such as rudeness, profanity, threats, etc.) of our staff will not be tolerated and will result in termination from the practice.
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How do I get a prescription refill?
Medication refills should be requested through your pharmacy. They will then fax us a request. We require 48 hours notice of routine refill requests. Please be aware that most requests for pain medications and antibiotics require an appointment. We require at least yearly visits for stable medication problems, but more frequent visits may be required as determined by your provider. Please call for prescription refills during regular office hours. No refills will be given after hours, weekends or holidays.
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How do I get a copy of my medical records?
Patients’ medical records are confidential and are not released without a signed authorization. Insurance carriers often request medical information to determine benefits and payment for services rendered. Patients who refuse the consent to release medical information to their insurance carriers for such purposes will be self-pay patients and will be responsible for the bill. Such a patient is required to pay in full for all services rendered on the same day of the visit.
Patients who wish to obtain a personal copy of their medical records will be required to pay 75 cents per page for the first 25 pages, 50 cents per page for 26-100 pages, and 25 cents per page for more than 100 pages. There will be a minimum fee of $10 per request. Please allow seven to 10 working days for your records to be ready for pick up. Patients should personally pick up copies of their medical records to ensure confidentiality.
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How can I get my insurance forms filled out?
Unfortunately, insurance companies do not compensate us for the extra time spent completing patients’ administrative forms for life insurance, disability, etc. Therefore, our office charges a minimum of $10 for completing such forms. This fee does not apply when our office files medical claims to a patient’s primary health insurance carrier. Please allow five business days for your form to be completed.
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What are your policies regarding insurance?
All copayments, deductibles, coinsurance, and fees for non-covered services will be collected at the time services are rendered. We will file claims with your primary insurance carrier as a courtesy. If, after receiving your insurer’s explanation of benefits (EOB) statement, there remains an amount for which you are responsible beyond what is already paid, we will bill you for this amount and require that it be paid in full within 30 days.
Once payment from your insurance company has been credited to your account, any over-payment made by you will be refunded promptly. All copayments will be collected at the time of appointment check-in. We do not bill for copayments since patients are expected to be aware of and prepared to pay them. Your appointment will be rescheduled if you are not prepared to pay. Unfortunately, your insurance company may not always cover all services.
We are committed to the following: We will not change information on a medical claim in order to have the insurance company pay for services. We are required by law to submit claims that accurately reflect the services performed and the reasons for which they were performed.
Our office will make copies of a new patient’s insurance card and driver’s license.
Please keep your insurance policy current and update our office with any changes in your policy. Failure to do so may result in our inability to properly bill your insurer and receive payment; therefore, you will be responsible for paying the bill.
If your insurance policy is no longer valid to cover the care you receive from us, then you will be responsible for all charges incurred during your visits from the date your policy became invalid.
Filing of insurance claims is a courtesy our office extends to our patients. However, if after 60 days from the initial filing date we do not obtain payment, the balance shall be transferred to you to be paid in full. Since your insurance policy is a contract between you and your insurer, any disputes about payment must be resolved between you and your insurer.
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Do you take uninsured patients?
We are currently not accepting any new uninsured patients.
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Can I make an appointment if I have an outstanding balance?
If you call to make an appointment and still have an outstanding balance, you will be required to pay it at the time of your next appointment or at least arrange a payment plan with the billing company. If you come to your appointment unprepared to pay and did not arrange a payment plan, we may reschedule your appointment.
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How can I make a payment?
We accept cash, check, Visa, and MasterCard. All returned checks will carry a charge of $50. After we receive a returned check from a patient, we will no longer accept that as a method of payment. Patients have the opportunity to remit the amount of the returned check plus the $50 service charge in the form of cash, money order, or credit card. Our policy is such that failure to comply with the above will result in further actions to collect this debt, including the referral of returned checks to the District Attorney’s office for collection.
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What is your policy regarding delinquent accounts?
Your account is considered delinquent when there is an outstanding balance and neither payment nor payment arrangement has been made 60 days after fees, which were not covered by your insurer, were transferred to you as your responsibility. We will not provide further routine services until the balance is paid in full since a patient would have had every opportunity to arrange a payment plan.
If you experience financial difficulty, please contact our billing company to discuss a payment plan. This way we will know your reasons for not paying your bills and not assume that you are simply ignoring them.
Many patients help us by fulfilling their financial obligations and arranging a payment plan when necessary. However, there are patients who choose not to pay for the services they receive. These individuals financially compromise our office and, consequently, we and other patients are left to absorb these costs. Therefore, we will pursue those individuals who take advantage of our services without paying for them.
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