Office Policies

Appointments

Reminder texts, emails and calls will be sent at least 48 hours prior to scheduled appointment. It is ultimately the patient’s responsibility to remember their appointment. 24-hour notice is required when cancelling an appointment. A “NO SHOW” fee of $50 will be charged if you fail to notify the office.

Blood Glucose Diary

Patients who require monitoring their daily blood glucose reading should either mail, fax or bring their readings/log to the office every 2 weeks or as instructed by their doctors. In cases of fluctuating blood sugar, readings maybe called in the office. We will notify you if there will be any changes in your medication.

Laboratory Work and Testing

Prescriptions are given for blood work or testing and it required to be done prior to your next visit or as directed by your doctor. It is the patient’s responsibility not to lose the prescription. If you fail to have tests done, your office visit will be cancelled and will be rescheduled at the next available time. It is the patient's responsibility to make sure the test results are faxed over. Test results will be discussed at the time of visit. Exceptions are made as needed by the doctors only.

Insurance

It is the patient’s responsibility to verify their insurance coverage and to understand the extent of that coverage. If a claim is denied, payment must be sent. It is your responsibility to follow it up with your insurance. We will charge patients an additional $10 to cover our billing cost, for copay not paid on the time of visit. Your contract with your insurance company clearly states that copay is due at the time of service. We do not bill patients for copay.

We accept cash, checks and credit/debit cards. Returned check fee is $35.

Referrals

If your insurance requires referrals, it is your responsibility to know when a new referral is needed. Referrals must be obtained from your primary physician’s office. If you do not have a proper referral, your claim will be denied and you will be responsible for paying the cost of that visit. There is absolutely no exception.

Prescriptions

Prescriptions will be given to the patients at the time of the visit. Patients now have the option to transmit prescriptions electronically. Request for a refill will have to be called in to the pharmacy by the patient. Prescriptions will be refilled during office hours and not on weekends and holidays as reviewing the chart is required. Prescriptions will be refilled only for 1 month if patient cannot show up for the required follow up visit for any reason and further refills will not be made unless the patient is seen.

Medical Record Release

Patients who need copies of their records will need to give at least 72-hour notice and must pick up the copies at the office and sign the release form. We do not mail records. Any records over 20 pages will require a charge of $1 per page. Patients transferring to another physician will need to have the new physician send us a Record Request Form and should give the office 7 days to process this.

Prior Authorization

Some of Medication, Laboratory and Imaging study require prior authorization. It usually takes 1 to 2 week turnaround time, depending on the insurance companies. The pharmacy, laboratory, or the imaging facility will contact the patient directly once they are approved.

Communication

All emergency calls should be directed to 911.

Please use the patient portal for communication. DO not use the admin email. All questions to the doctors will be answered by the staff during normal business hours. Medical assistants will try their best to answer patient questions/clarifications on the phone. If discussion with the Doctor is required, an appointment will be scheduled.

Compliance

It is very important for patients to follow instructions given by their provider accurately and in a timely manner. The following situations are considered MEDICAL NON-COMPLIANCE by the practice and will be recorded as such in the patient chart:

If the patient does not do labs or imaging tests that have been ordered by the physician within reasonable time.

If patient does not keep their appointments or "no shows" on 2 occasions consecutively.

Failure to take prescribed medications accurately and failure to check blood sugars as ordered.