New Patients:

• Welcome to our office! We are glad you have chosen NEWS to help you care for your health.
• Please be aware that Dr. Schultz and many of our patients are highly allergic to perfumes, body lotions, and creams.
• Please do not wear any of these to any of your visits. If you do, your visit may have to be rescheduled.

Insurance Coverage:

• All insurances are usable at NEWS: however we only accept assignment on Dr. Melville's patients for BC/BS PPO's, POS's and Medicare. 
  Dr. Schultz only accepts assignment on Medicare otherwise she is "fee-for-service" payable in-full at the time of of your appointment.
• Walk-out Superbill: To assist all "fee-for-service" patients in collecting from your insurance company, we provide a walk-out Superbill. You need to use this Superbill to file your insurance claim. If you have any questions about this process please contact the front office.
• What Your Insurance will pay for: We understand that with the high premiums that you pay for health insurance, you expect your insurance company to pay for all of your care. This seems reasonable. Unfortunately, health insurance is more like auto collision insurance - it does 't pay for repairs, tune-ups, or new tires - it only pays for accidental damage repair. This means that while some of your care may be covered, some of your care, especially the specialized testing and Preventive Healthcare that we offer here at NEWS, might be your responsibility.
• The Future in Insurance: We look forward to the day that brings change to the "sick care" medical system in our country. Perhaps a new system with insurance coverage limited to emergencies and crisis care will result in premiums much lower so everyone can afford catastrophic health care. The major savings will be in a shift from our present "crisis care" to "consumer directed individualized preventive health care." That system would allow you to choose the kind of maintenance healthcare your really want and need. At NEWS we feel that we are already functioning by that medical "health care" model. Thus by allowing us to help you maintain or improve your health status we help save your medical healthcare dollars.
• Savings Medical Accounts: We encourage Savings Medical Account plans (SMA's) for the self-employed and Flex Plans for employees who can take advantage of this flexibility now.

Initial Visit & Important Papers:

• No matter how you pay the physician, yourself or an insurance company, if you have insurance coverage, it is important to bring your insurance card and a picture ID with you to the first visit. These cards will be scanned into our system to help keep our and our independent lab's information current. We will ask for this information on a regular basis in order to ensure that no chage in benefits or carrier has occured. Please notify us if your insurance carrier or policy has changed.Be sure to bring, or arrange to have forwarded, before your appointment, any pertinent old records (especially lab work, mammogram's, Pap's, bone densities, ultra sounds). Please use the following Medical Records Release Form to forward those records.

Personal Information Files:

• Will need to be updated on each patient every year or whenever they change.

NEWS's Financial Policy:

• Is available below and in print in our Office Policy and Procedures Manual.

Payment Policies for Office Visits and Procedures:

• CO-PAYMENTS/DEDUCTIBLES: If you use insurance, your insurance REQUIRES that a co-pay/deductible be collected at the time of service. Please be prepared to pay this co-pay at every office visit. There is an additional $10 fee for copays not collected at time of service.
• SELF-PAY: Self-pay patients are all patients not using an accepted insurance carrier. Full payment for services rendered will be expected at the time of each and every visit.
• MEDICARE: We will bill Medicare. Medicare only patients will be responsible for their yearly deductible and co-insurance at the time of the office visit. Medicare patients with secondary insurance will be responsible for monies their secondary does not cover; this could be deductibles and/or co-pays! Again, Medicare does not cover everything and any non-covered care will be the patient's responsibility.
• RETURNED CHECK FEE: Any returned check from the bank for non-payment or (insufficient funds) shall result in the patient's account being assessed a $40.00 fee per check.

Why do we require payment at the time of your visit?:

• Plain and simple, nothing's free, including water these days. When you buy groceries you pay for them too, or no food. Physicians have huge over heads and the way our income keeps being cut, we have less and less to "do business" with.
• Unlike many other physicians, our practice does not do expensive procedures that help us meet our overhead. Thus, everyone is expected to pay when services are rendered. Please understand that the doctor's services are provided directly to you and not to an insurance company. We simply cannot afford to render services on the assumption that charges will eventually be paid by the insurance company. You are ultimately responsible for the charges for your visit.
• Prompt payment at the time of service decreases the time, money and energy spent in billing and mailings which then allows us to contain cost and not have to pass them on to you in the form of higher office charges.
• When payment is made at the time of service, it is a win-win situation for both of us.

Additional Office Fees:

• Billing Fee: The initial statement sent after an insurance payment is posted, is a courtesy statement; however any further billing on that statement will incur a Billing Fee of $10 per billing cycle. 30 days after the third statement is sent and there has been no response, the bill will be sent to collections.
• Insurance Request for Medical Records / Disability Forms / Paperwork: There is a formula used by the state for assessing cost of medical records. We will be using that formula when either you or insurance companies request records. If we do not participate with that company, they may expect the patient to pay for the records. There is a $25-$50 per form fee payable by the patient for the completion of paperwork or forms relating to disability. This fee is collected prior to the completion of the forms, and for each time the paper work is required.
• Lab Fees: A drawing fee will be charged if NEWS's staff or physicians draw your blood. This fee is actually charged by the lab technician when they draw your blood. It is just that it is billed to your insurance company by them so you are not aware of it. If NEWS draws your blood the lab charges us to draw it, thus it is applied to your bill.
• • The Independent Lab will either bill your insurance company or you for the cost of the labs.
  • Self-pay patients will be responsible for all lab costs. These fees are not included in the office visit.
  • Any Specialty Lab Test performed on any patient will be the responsibility of the patient. Many of our Speciality Tests have additional fees associated with them for "Shipping and Handeling". These costs are discussed at the time the test is explained to you by our nursing staff.

Referrals:

• All referrals from our office to anyone or any facility are the responsibility of the patient.
• It is the patient's responsibility to call their insurance company and be sure the referral takes their insurance and they don't need prior authorization. Failure to obtain this information prior to the referral visit is the patient's responsibility.

Allowable forms of payment:

• We accept VISA, Master Card, American Express, Discover as well as debit, checks or cash.

Accepted Insurances:

• INSURANCE: All insurances are usable at NEWS but we only accept assignment on BC/BS - PPO and POS and only on Dr. Melville's patients. Both physicians accept assignment on Medicare.
• • If we don't accept assignment on your insurance, you are treated as a self-pay patient and payment is expected at the time of service. You will be given a Superbill that you may use to file your insurance yourself.
• MEDICAID: NEWS is NOT a Medicaid provider. If it is your secondary and Medicare is primary, we will see you per our below protocol but you then assume the cost of your co-pays and deductibles.

• 
  MEDICARE: As our established patients move into "Medicare status", we continue to see them. We do not, however, accept any random Medicare patient. To be accepted into our office you have to be interviewed by the staff or physician to see if we will philosophically mesh. Time is precious and there is no reason to waste it. You then need to be initially scheduled a Preventative Health Care exam that you are responsible for. Medicare does not pay for this. At the end of this process, we both have a better idea if we can work together. 

• • Our established patients need to understand that Medicare will cover some Preventative Healthcare but not Physical Exams. We at NEWS feel that obtaining data is nice but wasted if no one actually examines you. If we don't know you when you're well how will we ever know when you're sick.
  • Special arrangements can be made to see folks on Medicare if they maintain their present Family Physician for Medicare sick care and pay "out-of-pocket" for Preventative Healthcare from NEWS.

Filing Insurance:

• All patients, no matter their mode of payment, will receive a Superbill that may be used to file insurance for reimbursement.
• NEWS will only file Medicare and non-HMO BC/BS insurance claims for Dr. Melville and Medicare insurance claims for Dr. Schultz.
• All others with various insurances will have to file their own insurance. You will be given a Superbill with all the information you will need to file your insurance. Please be sure that all of the coding numbers you will need are present on the Superbill.
• If this is the first time you have filed your insurance and you are unsure how to do this, please consult Tanya. She will be glad to instruct you in the procedure.

Ultimately the Patient's Responsibility is Financially Responsible for the Total Charge:

• All fees generated at NEWS are the ultimate responsibility of the patient.
• Just having insurance does not guarantee the ultimate or timely payment of your services.
• Many times insurance companies slow these payments down by requesting records from NEWS, from you the patient, or from prior physicians.
• If after three months of non-payment by the insurance company, the bill will be submitted to the patient for payment. Payment in full will be expected. Any future payments, by the insurance company, on this encounter will be reimbursed to the patient.
• If you or your dependents have a delinquent insurance account, we will only be able to provide emergency referals until the balance is paid in full.
• Many times what it takes is patient involvement to get claims paid. We will help in any way possible to speed this process, but the speed of payment is out of our hands and in yours.. You pay the insurance company for the policy, not us!

What if I need a costly procedure and I don't have the money?:

• Truth-in-Lending forms must be signed prior to the procedure. You will be expected to pay 20% of the total cost the day of the procedure. The remaining balance will need to be paid within the ensuing 3 months. Missing a monthly-pre-arranged payment, without contacting us, will constitute intended nonpayment for the remaining balance. Without further attempt to collect on this debit, we will turn it over to our collection agency.

Supplement Purchases:

• All supplements purchased in the office, will be paid for in full at the time of purchase.
• A bill will be issued that you may use for reimbursement from your insurance company. Some insurance companies are recognizing the importance of these adjuncts to health care, but until this is the rule rather the exception, you will be responsible for the purchase of these products.
• Supplements may NOT be returned.

Missed Appointments:

• NEWS attempts to notify all patients of impending appointments.
• When a patient fails to present for a scheduled appointment, it has a detrimental effect on the schedules of other patients. Our physicians spend 1 to 1.5 hours on initial histories and physicals. When these appointments are missed, a significant amount of time is lost that could have been used to care for other patients. We take time with our patients, so we do not "double-book".
• We also have a waiting list, thus a cancellation notice from patients usually will allow us to fill this appointment. We ask for your cooperation in this matter. Please be considerate of other patients needs. Thus, we expect a:
  
• • 48 hour cancellation for new patients, physicals, and procedures
  • 48-hour cancellation for established follow-up patients.
  • Cancellations made over the weekend, via our answering machine, will be viewed as a 24 hour notice. Thus if you will not be making a Monday appointment, you need to call Friday before 4:30 PM to cancel.
• Failure to cancel your appointment in a timely manner will result in the following discretionary charges:
• • New patient appointment, physical, or procedure = $50
  • All other missed appointments = $25

• After 3 missed and/or canceled appointments, NEWS will consider you to have terminated your care. A self termination letter will be sent and your chart will be marked as terminated.

Follow Up Appointments:

• You should plan to arrive for follow-up appointments at least 10 minutes before the appointment time to allow for check-in.
• If you arrive late, we cannot guarantee that you will be seen. Call ahead and perhaps we can still accommodate you.
• If you arrive late and we are able to see you, your appointment may be shorter, but you will still have to pay the full appointment fee.

"No Charge" Appointments:

• If an appointment takes longer than the time originally scheduled, you will be charged for a longer appointment. This includes both new patient appointments and follow-up visits.

Your Appointment is taking longer than you expected!:

• Our physicians try to meet the needs of patients as they go through the day. Some days, patients have more immediate problems than time is allowing and the physicians get backed up. If the physician is taking more than 20 to 30 minutes to get in to see you and you cannot wait, please reschedule your visit. We try and prevent these delays but most of the time we have no control over them.
• In our 30+ years of seeing patients, we have tried everything to prevent delays, nothing has worked. Please be assured that you too will be afforded the time you need when your time comes. We appreciate everyone's concern for the other patients in the office that day.

Recourse:

• We regret any inconvenience these policies may cause you and welcome the opportunity to discuss any aspect of our financial policy. The policies have been developed for the common good of all of our patients. We will gladly entertain any suggestions.