Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
To Our Patients
Thank you for selecting Texas Comprehensive Spine Center at Arlington Orthopedic Associates, P.A. Our staff will do all we can to provide you and your family the very best health care.
- Appointments?
- Why All the Questions?
- Canceling Appointments?
- Emergencies?
- Telephone Calls?
- Prescriptions and Refills?
- Fees?
- Insurance?
- Managed Care?
- Workers Compensation?
- Liability?
- Past Due Accounts?
- Miscellaneous
Appointments?
Patients are seen by appointment only. Appointment times are available five days a week, Monday through Friday. We do however, have a physician on call after hours and on weekends for emergencies.
Because emergencies are inevitable, delays do occur. A sincere attempt is made to adhere as close to the office schedule as possible. If we know a delay will occur in advance, we will make every attempt to contact you. We ask that you leave a telephone number when making an appointment. We also ask that you bring any recent x-rays or MRI films with you to your appointment.
Why All the Questions?
The receptionist will ask you to fill out a patient information form. These questions are necessary so the doctor can obtain essential data about you. Your occupation, age, etc. are important because it has a bearing upon your health and physical status.
If you have insurance claims made out by this office, all of these items are necessary to complete the forms. ALL INFORMATION GIVEN TO US IS STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.
You will be asked to sign an authorization to pay the doctor directly by the insurance company for charges incurred.
Canceling Appointments?
If you are unable to keep a scheduled appointment please call and notify the office as soon as possible. This enables us to contact patients who may be on a waiting list for earlier appointments.
Emergencies?
If you have an emergency you can call our office number, 817-375-5200, 24 hours a day. After hours and on weekends, your call will be forwarded to our answering service who will direct it to the doctor on call. You will then be advised as to whether or not a visit to the Emergency Room is necessary. If you have an injury that obviously requires emergency treatment please proceed to the Emergency Room and request one of our doctors to be contacted.
Telephone Calls?
Our telephone policies are designed to allow our staff to care for our patients with a minimum of interruptions. Calls will be directed to the appropriate individual and returned in a timely manner.
Outside of regular business hours, our telephone is answered by our answering service and messages are transmitted to the doctor.
Prescriptions and Refills?
Precriptions and refills are issued during office hours only. During evenings and weekends, it is difficult for the physician to determine if a prescription or refill is indicated when he does not have access to your medical record. The best method for refills is to have your pharmacist fax our office during regular business hours for authorization.
Fees?
Because of the high cost of billing, and in an effort to keep your medical costs down, WE ASK THAT YOU PAY YOUR PORTION OF ALL OFFICE FEES AT THE TIME THE SERVICE IS RENDERED. We accept MasterCard, VISA and Care Credit.
Our charges are based upon reasonable and customary fees for services provided. We will file a claim with your insurance carrier. However, you may be asked to make a deposit prior to having elective surgery performed. Surgical fees include x-rays, casts, braces, wraps, etc. Our fee for an initial visit or a "new problem" of an established patient will be higher than that for a routine follow-up visit.
We will always be happy to discuss fees with you and an ESTIMATE of proposed fees for any procedure will be given when requested.
We sincerely want our patients to understand our charges and be satisfied that they are reasonable and equitable. Complete frankness on the part of both doctor and patient is the best guarantee of mutual understanding. Please speak with our receptionist if you have any questions.
Insurance?
If you have insurance coverage, we will prepare and submit a standardized insurance claim form to your insurance company for services rendered during a hospitalization or emergency room treatment. However, RESPONSIBILITY FOR PAYMENT IS YOUR OBLIGATION REGARDLESS OF INSURANCE OR ANY OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES (SUCH AS LITIGATION). You will be asked to sign "benefits assignment portion" of the insurance claim form before the form is submitted. This authorization for the payment to be made directly to us must be signed or the bill paid in full prior to completion of the form. If overpayment occurs a refund will be made to you. Many insurance companies, including Medicare, have deductibles and percentage allowances, therefore, they do not cover the entire bill. An experienced financial counselor is available to help answer your questions.
Managed Care?
Many patients in this day and time are covered under a Healthcare Maintenance Organization (HMO). This type of insurance has many features different from the "old style" insurance. First, be certain the doctor you are seeing is on your "plan". Do not rely on the booklet you received from the company to be accurate. Doctors are added and deleted almost daily. Check with our receptionist - she should be able to tell you if our doctors are on your plan or not. If you are changing to a different HMO it is best to check with all your current doctors, to be certain they are on the plan before enrolling.
Most HMO's require patients to have a referral from their primary care physician prior to seeing a specialist. There is a good reason for this - it prevents patients from seeing specialists for minor problems that can very adequately be handled by the primary physician. This helps keep the overall expense of health care down, and is a policy we support in most cases. However, we are not allowed to see a patient without the referral. Please understand that this is a "rule" we must follow to be on the insurance plan. Therefore, please be certain you have a referral with you before you come to the office. If there is a delay in obtaining one, we can reschedule your appointment. If you have any questions or are new to HMO's, please talk to one of our office managers. They will be glad to assist you.
Worker's Compensation?
We accept most insurance plans. In all worker's compensation cases, the patients must be "verified" with the insurance carrier prior to treatment being rendered. Please inform us if you are seeking a "second opinion" with one of our doctors, or are changing from another doctor to one of the doctors in our group. Worker's compensation requires special forms to be filled out under these circumstances.
Worker's compensation patients will not be allowed to have more than two rescheduled or canceled appointments, without jeopardizing their off-work status.
Liability?
Payments for services rendered is the responsibility of the individual who has received treatment, not the individual being sued. We do ask that your bill be paid promptly. Lawsuits often go on for a protracted period of time, liability action is not an acceptable reason for delaying payment.
Once your bill has been satisfied, we will fulfill our responsibilities in providing attorneys with any medical information they might request. Occasionally, attorneys will request a "Medical Narrative". This is a comprehensive, detailed report that requires considerable preparation. There is an additional charge for this report.
Past Due Accounts?
If you are having trouble with payment of your account please contact our business office, and we will make every effort to work with you. It may be possible to establish a "payment plan" that you can live with. We understand that many of the problems we treat are emergencies, and that the expenses involved were probably not foreseeable. The sooner we are notified, the sooner we can find a solution. Please do not let your account become seriously past due before contacting the business office.
If your account does become more than 90 days past due, and we have not had any response from you to the statements you receive, we will be forced to take collection action. Our past experience tells us that this can be avoided almost always if you will contact the office.
Miscellaneous
- Information will never be released to a third party without your written authorization. This does not apply to worker's compensation carriers to whom we are required by law to report.
- Please update your "information sheet" as changes occur. It is especially important for us to know any changes in telephone numbers or address.
- Please provide us with all information about your insurance coverage at the time of initial visit. If there is a change in your coverage at any time, let us know as soon as possible.
- Feel free to report to us any complaint you may have about our charges, services, or any inattention from any office personnel. We will do our best to correct the problem.
Above all, we are here to serve you with the finest orthopedic care possible. Please help us to help you.