CVMG Policies
Front Desk Policies
Insurance and Billing Policies
Doctors and Nurses Policy
Prescription Refill Policy
Front Desk Policies
We ask that new patients come 10-15 minutes before their appointments to fill out necessary paperwork.
We would appreciate it if appointment cancellations could be handled at least 24 hours before your scheduled appointment in order for us to be able to accommodate patients who need to see the doctors. We understand a patient occasionally missing a scheduled appointment due to unforeseen circumstances; however, a pattern of missed appointments without proper notification may result in a missed appointment charge. Help us bill your insurance properly by bringing your insurance card each and every time you come to the clinic.
Medicaid insists that Medicaid patients cannot be seen without a current card.
Your insurance requires co-pays to be paid at check-in time. We charge a $10 fee for missed co-pays to help defray the cost of sending statements to patients.
Tell the friendly front desk staff of any changes to your insurance, address, phone numbers or any pertinent contact information so they can update our files.
We understand that many patients cannot obtain adequate health insurance. For that reason we give a 15% discount off our scheduled charges for these patients and ask them to pay their bill at time of service. If you are a self-pay patient, when you check-in we ask you to leave a $75 deposit at the front desk, which will be applied to your overall bill after your visit. Your doctor will calculate your bill for you and send you back to the front desk to receive your discount.
If you are coming only for lab services, please come during hours the doctors are in the office (9:30-12 and 1:30-5:00). Lab results may dictate that you need to be seen by a doctor. The same is true if you are coming for injections.
Please do not use cell phones in the reception area or consult rooms.
If you wait longer than 20 minutes for your appointment time, please speak with our helpful front desk staff. They can make sure you have not been inadvertently missed and can let you know expected wait times. They can also facilitate other options for you.
Insurance and Billing Policies
All professional services are charged to the patient. We will bill your insurance as a courtesy to you and will write off any amounts dictated by our contracts with your insurance company. However, if you have not updated your insurance information the entire balance will become your responsibility. Self pay patients are expected to pay for the services they receive at the time of service unless special arrangements have been made in advance with our office credit manager. Billing Terms: After 30 days, a finance charge of 1 ½ % per month (annual rate of 18%) will be charged on all past due accounts. If we have to resort to sending your account to a collection agency, either by suit or otherwise, you will be charged collection costs, including a reasonable attorney’s fee. If we are forced to turn your account over to a collection agency you will no longer be able to be seen by our doctors.
Things that may help you get your insurance to pay their contracted amount:
(1) If you are receiving immunizations or are having special procedures performed you would do well to call your insurance company and verify benefits. We typically deal with more than 1,000 insurance companies and are not aware of all of the various benefit packages they involve. It is your insurance coverage and you are responsible to know benefits. Our staff will try to assist you but cannot be responsible for knowing the idiosyncrasies of your coverage. (2) When you call your insurance company, please note the person’s name with whom you spoke in the event you have to appeal a payment denial. (3) If you deliver a baby, be sure to add your baby’s name to your insurance immediately. Failure to do so often results in a lack of coverage. In such cases, the patient becomes responsible financially for all the baby's medical services.
Doctors and Nurses Policy
The doctors schedule an average of 25-30 patient visits a day. We know delays in the office are an irritating feature of a visit to a primary care doctor. Some delays are inevitable. We try hard to schedule appropriately to minimize wait times. However, the doctors have to work in emergency visits. These cases, naturally, are impossible to schedule ahead of time. While that puts scheduled patients behind time, you can be assured that if you need emergency attention you will be seen first at the clinic as well. You can help the doctor by making sure you let the schedulers know the nature of all the problems you wish to discuss for that day. That way, you will be allotted enough time in the doctor’s schedule that he will be able to stay on time. If you mention to the doctor other medical issues for which you did not schedule time, he may ask you to return at another time.
If you need to speak with a doctor by phone for non-emergencies, he will try to reach you within 24 hours. Please be patient. He is trying to stay on schedule with patients who have made appointments. Taking time to speak on the phone puts all patients behind time. Nurses, likewise, are often in rooms with patients and cannot take a phone call right when you call. Be sure to leave a number where you can be reached.
If you have an emergency, please dial option 5 when you call in so you can receive immediate care. Be aware that if you choose this option and do not have an emergency, you will be asked to call our regular number. We save option 5 for emergencies only.
Prescription Refill Policy
In September 2002 Canyon View Medical Group decided to change the way we handle refill prescriptions. It is important that the doctor be closely involved in monitoring patient prescriptions. We believe that it will lead to better patient care for patients who need long-term pharmaceutical care to see the doctor at least once a year to discuss those issues. If a patient is stable and the prescription is effective, the doctor will write out a year’s worth of refills at the time of the initial visit (unless law prohibits that length of prescription refill). No longer will the patient need to call regularly in to the office, leave lengthy messages and then call numerous times to verify that the prescription has been called in to the pharmacy of choice. When the prescription expires we will not refill it over the phone. You will have to make an appointment to see the doctor again. We have found that this new policy has been beneficial to everyone involved. Patients needing to call into the office spend less time on the phone making requests, our office has 25% fewer telephone calls each day, and pharmacies can function better because they do not have to fax and call us so often.