Financial Policy Thank you for choosing The Endocrine Group. We are committed to giving you the best medical advice we can. Please understand that payment of your bill is considered part of your treatment. The following is a statement of our Financial Policy which we require that you read, agree to and sign prior to any treatment. ALL CO-PAYS, CO-INSURANCES AND DEDUCTIBLES ARE DUE AT TIME OF SERVICE. WE ACCEPT CASH, CHECKS, VISA, DISCOVER, AND MASTERCARD. Regarding Insurance You are responsible for all fees regardless of insurance coverage unless our physicians are contracted with your insurance's network, in which case you are given a preferred provider discount. It is the patient's responsibility to determine if the physician you are seeing is a contracted with your insurance's network. Payment for services not covered by your insurance will be billed directly to you. We file your insurance as a courtesy to you. It is your responsibility to see that your insurance pays accordingly. Therefore, if your account has not been paid within 60 days, it will be up to you to contact your insurance company. Any outstanding balance, 90 days from date of service, will be due from you. At the time of your visit a copy will be made of your insurance card(s). Should you fail to bring your card(s) with you, you will be responsible for payment of all fees at time service and will be responsible for filing your own insurance. Insurance companies have a claim filing deadline so failure to provide us with correct insurance information at the time of service may result in your being responsible for the entire bill. Co-pays are collected prior to treatment. Failure to pay co-pays may be reported to your insurance company which could result in your coverage being terminated. Again, please remember that you are ultimately responsible for your medical bills. Authorizations If your insurance plan requires you to have a primary care physician then it also requires an authorization be issued by your primary care physician in order for you to see a doctor in our office. We will make every effort to obtain the authorization. However, it is ultimately your responsibility to make sure your primary care physician issues the authorization. Without exception, we will not be able to see you in our office if an authorization is not received from your primary care physician before the time of your visit. Laboratory and Radiology Services Many insurance plans have contracts for radiology and laboratory services with only a select list of hospitals and clinical laboratories. If the wrong hospital or laboratory is used, the insurance company will not pay for the services, and you, the patient will have to pay the entire bill. Therefore, we expect that you inform yourself of which hospital or laboratory your insurance requires. It is the responsibility of the patient, not of The Endocrine Group, to clearly provide this information to clerks and technicians when radiology or laboratory tests are requested. It is your doctor's responsibility to medically recommend the various tests, but the site at which these tests may be completed is completely in the hands of the patient (and the patient's insurance company.) The Endocrine Group has no financial connection with any radiology or laboratory facility other than our own. Missed Appointments Unless canceled, at least 24 hours in advance, you may be charged for missed appointments at the rate of a normal office visit. Please help us to serve you better by keeping scheduled appointments. Returned Checks A fee of $25.00 is charged for all checks returned from the bank unpaid. Statements of Amount Due We will send three statements, if payment has not been received after the third statement your account will be placed in line for turning to a collection agency. The last thing we want to do is take any steps which would impair your credit standing so please pay in a timely manner or contact us with information as to why you cannot pay. At this time, we do not attach any finance charges to over due accounts so we cannot realistically carry a past due balance for a long period of time.