PAYMENTS

Patient Financial Policy

Patient Financial Policy

The physicians and allied health professionals of IMG participate in a number of insurance plans. How participation affects you is described below. If you are not in a plan in which IMG participates, unless other arrangements have been made in advance by either you or your health insurance carrier, full payment is due at the time of service. For your convenience we accept checks, cash, Visa or MasterCard.

• IMG physicians and allied health professionals are participating providers with Medicare.
• IMG physicians and allied health professionals participate in a number of additional contractual relationships with other insurers.
• It is important to remember that it is the patient’s responsibility to know whether or not IMG is in the panel of providers for your health plan.
• It is the responsibility of patients to notify IMG of changes in insurance coverage immediately. Many insurance plans have policies regarding the timely filing of claims on your behalf. If you do not provide us information in a timely manner, it is possible that your claims will not be received within the allotted time frame. Patients are financially responsible for services rendered and providing information to IMG to allow collection of payment for services rendered from third parties.
• If your claim is denied by the insurance plan in your file and we have not been made aware of any changes in coverage by you, the total charge will be transferred to patient responsibility.
• Prior arrangements have been made with many insurers and health plans to accept an assignment of benefits. This includes Medicare, Medicaid, and many commercial carriers. This means that we will bill those plans with which we have an agreement and will only require you to pay the required copayment or your portion of the deductible at the time of service. It is our policy to collect the copayment when you arrive for your appointment.
• If your health plan requires you to obtain prior authorization or precertification before treatment can be initiated or a procedure can be performed, we ask that you inform our staff and assist us in making these arrangements. It is the patient’ responsibility to know when services require prior authorization or precertification.
• If you have insurance coverage with a plan for which we do not have a prior agreement, we will prepare and send claims on your behalf. However, you should be aware that the patient’s share of the medical fees owed when using non-contracted physicians will usually be more than when using contracted physicians.
• Not all services are a covered benefit in all insurance plans. Some health plans select certain services they will not cover. In the event your health plan determined a service to be “not covered” you will be responsible for the total charge. Payment of the balance designated as patient’s responsibility is due on receipt of a statement from our office. You also will receive a separate Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from your insurance carrier designating the amount of patient responsibility.
• There will be a fee assessed by our office for non-sufficient funds in addition to the fee charged by your bank or other financial institution.
• Payment arrangements can be coordinated with the Financial Counselor of IMG. Balances under $500 are expected to be paid within six (6) months from date of patient responsibility. Balances under $1,000 are expected to be paid within twelve (12) months from date of patient responsibility.
• There are occasions when it becomes necessary to consider outside collections services for patient balances. IMG works with an outside firm to provide payment plans for patients requiring extended payment plans. When accounts advance to violation of payment agreements or lack of mutually agreed payment amounts, IMG does engage collection services to work with patients and their financial responsibilities.
• Stay in touch with us regarding claims: We advise patients not to assume that your insurance company is actively working on your claim. If you have not received notice of payment or processing by your insurance plan within 45 days of your services, we suggest you contact your insurance plan to determine the cause for the delay.
• Other questions regarding payment for medical services can be directed to the Revenue Cycle Manager.