What is the "New Patient" Cancelation Policy?
New pateints will be requred to make a deposit to hold their appointment spot. The deposit is currently $50 and is redundable in certian situations. If you cancel your appointment more than 24 hrs ahead of your scheduled time your deposit will be returned (minus and banking fees charged by our merchant service-sorry). If you make your appointment, the deposit will apply to your balance due for services. Most service industries have gone to service call fees or deposits to ensure customers make their scheduled appointment. Since our doctors are scheduling time to spend just with you, we must too.
What is the "Massage Service" Cancelation Policy?
Patrons scheduing massage serivces are subject to a $25 cancelation fee if appointmerns are canceled less than 24 hrs ahead of the scheduled time.
How long with the first appointment take? What about subsequent appointments?
Your first two appointments are long, typically an 1 to 1.5 hours because we are thourogh. If you want a brief in-and-out service we are probably not the right place for you. With that said, subsequent appointments (if no new issues arise) are typically less than an a half-hour unless you requre a lot of services (like therapies, massage, or acupuncture). We will always try to accomodate your request for timeliness on days when you are in a hurry, but please remember that some patiens require more attention than others and we are not always able to predict when those needs arise. You were likely once one of those patients (especially when new to the practice). Informing the staff of any changes in your status (i.e. a recent car accident) when scheduling can help us schedule you appropriately.
Does Insurance cover chiropractic care?
Yes, most major medical plans, including Medicare, have some type of chiropractic coverage. We can best determine this by looking up your policy informaiton ahead of time, however, as the insurance companies remind us...."Verification of Benefists is not a Guarantee of Coverage (or type of services covered)". We wont often know your exaxt type of coverage until we bill your services and see how your company processes things.
You are out of network on my insurance, can it still be billed to them?
Yes it can. We are not contracted with every company for many reasons. If your company is one of those you still may have out-of-network benefits. We will try to verify this ahead of time. Sometimes your deductible or coinsurance is large enough that it does not make sense to use yoru insurance. We will let you know if this is the case, and suggest our affordable self-pay rates.
Do you take car accident patients.
Yes we do. Its important to be seen after a car accident to ensure you do not get long term effects from the injury. With that said, we are happy to help you if your circumstance apply. The best type fo coverage to use is called Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or Med Pay insurance that is present on most full coverage car policies. This policy is bought by you for just this situation, and regardless of fault, is available to use to cover everyone in the vehicle (at the same level). It is often the cheapest part of your auto policy so we suggest getting a $10K policy if you can, since one trip in the ambulance might be thousands of dollars out of pocket. The second best method of coverage is your medical insurance, however sometimes your medical insuarance will not cover you when you are hit by a 3rd party. Medical insurance is subrogatable and will have to be paid back in the event of a 3rd party settlement or case. Lastly is Self Pay and as the name implies, you will cover your own expenses up front.
One advantage of using PIP coverage in an accident when injured by someone else is that since you were responsible and bought this policy to cover your medical expenses the 3rd party is not out any funds (depending on care cost and plan limits) for medical care.Thus they have more wiggle room when making settlements on cases. (Note we are not attorneys and are not giving anything other than the obviuous benefit of this arrangement-consult your attorney if you have questions). (PS you do not need an attorney to file PIP, just call your company and start a claim).
Healthmatters Chiropractic does not take 3rd party delayed payement or attorney based cases (unless you are filing PIP or self paying). We recommend you have a financial consult with us first before your first appointment so everyone is on the same page!