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 received an EOB (explanation of benefits) in the mail 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 required 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 up front prior to certain procedures. We are contractually obligated with your insurer to collect these charges. There are no exceptions.

We accept payment in the form of cash, personal check, Visa, Mastercard and American Express. There is $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. We would be happy to file the claim with your insurer who would then pay the patient directly, if applicable.

Patients with No Insurance Coverage (Self Pay)
Self-pay patients are required to pay a $75 office visit fee before seeing the physician. If procedures are deemed necessary and performed, the patient will be responsible for these costs as well. If necessary, our patient accounts supervisor will discuss the estimated charges before they will be 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 from outside labs are the patient’s responsibility. Facilities our practice uses includes Emory Immunofluorescence Laboratory, ProPath Dermatopathology Laboratory and American Esoteric Laboratory (AEL) 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 your carrier for our services. In order to properly file or appeal a claim we must have each patients’ social security number, as well as, a valid and current insurance card. We will ask for these two items 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 to 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 within 30 days from receipt of the statement from our office, or at any follow-up visits. We only send one patient statement due to the time and cost involved in the process. After 30 days from the date on your statement your account is considered past due and we will send you one courtesy reminder letter that your account must be paid within 7 business days or you will be sent to an outside collections agency. Delinquent account balances, overdue balances and payment arrangements with broken promises will be sent to an outside collections agency with an additional surcharge added to the amount owed to our facility. For those patients who have been sent to collections in the past and paid their balance, you will be permitted to make additional appointments.