Patient Info
We will answer telephone calls 24 hours a day. If you make the call during business hours, our staff will assist you directly. If you call after office hours, an answering service will answer your call. They can page a covering practitioner, if necessary. If a serious or life-threatening emergency occurs, call 911 or go immediately to the nearest emergency room.
Trained to handle all incoming calls, our staff determines the nature and urgency of your problem. This plan allows our physicians to care for office patients with minimal interruptions. Please make all non-emergency calls during office hours. Patients should not expect to speak directly with a physician over the telephone. Direct conversation with a physician will usually require that you schedule an appointment to come into the office.
Billing Department
(Ph: 860-728-6740 Opt. 5)
Many insurance companies require the patient to obtain referrals. Occasionally, HMO insurance will require that our office obtain the referral for the patient. When this is necessary, we are always glad to do so.
In all workers’ compensation cases, you must bring information for billing. The information that is necessary includes the employer’s name, date of injury, insurance company name and address, and your WCB and carrier case number. All information must be received before the date of your appointment.
Patients who have been injured and expect their medical costs to be covered by car insurance are occasionally accepted by our office. Since we have no guarantee of payment from these sources, we expect payment of our billed charges to be made at the time of service. The patient will then receive the insurance settlement paid directly to them. In some cases where we have contact with a reliable insurer, we will see patients without up-front payment. We ask you to pay bills promptly, even though you may be involved in a liability action against someone else.
For your convenience, all departments are accessible through our main telephone number; please call (860) 728-6740.
The personnel in our billing department would be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding charges for your care. If necessary, they can set up a flexible payment plan that can meet your particular needs.
We have contracts with most insurance companies and managed care organizations. We will file claims for all services under these programs. The only way to know if your insurance will cover you to visit us is to contact your insurance company directly. Please be prepared to pay co-payments and deductibles at the time of service. Cash, checks, Visa, and MasterCard are accepted.
As the patient, you are responsible for payment for no-fault or private insurance and in cases involving litigation. Please be aware that your insurance may not always cover the entire bill and that you may have to pay deductibles or residual percentages.
Please also take a moment to read the following:
If you need to cancel your appointment with one of our physicians, please provide 24 hours’ notice. However, if this is not possible, please give as much notice as possible. Early cancellations allow other patients the opportunity to utilize that available time slot. You can cancel your appointments by calling (860) 728-6740. At the time of the cancellation, one of our staff members will reschedule the appointment.
We won’t turn over any account to collection without first being reviewed by the treating physician. The following criteria are used for sending an account to collection:
- The bank returns the patient’s check, and you make no effort to replace it after ten days.
- More than 90 days and three billing cycles have elapsed without payment.
- Our billing personnel have attempted to collect without success.
- The patient has failed to follow through with agreed-upon financial arrangements.
- Our billing personnel obtains your physician’s approval to submit your account to a collection agency.
- The office sends a letter to you notifying you that an outside collection agency has received your account. The practice will be available to you for emergencies but with cash payment only.
- The account is transferred to collections and placed in the collection status.
- A note is made in the medical record and patient account that the chart is in suspended status.
All returned checks will have a processing fee of $50.
The account is transferred to collections and placed in the collection status. Our billing personnel will make a note in the account that the specific check payment has been returned and a returned-check processing fee is charged to the account. You are contacted and notified that you have 72 hours to arrive at the office with the cash, money order, certified check, or credit card. Otherwise, we will forward the check to the state’s worthless check/fraud unit. When you make a payment, you are informed that the office will no longer accept a personal check as payment.
Medication questions and requests for additional medication from our patients are important issues taken very seriously by our physicians and staff. Please consider the following policies so that we may better serve you. Please call your pharmacy to request a prescription refill. Please allow 48 hours for your refill request to be electronically submitted, approved, and returned to the pharmacy.
For a refill on narcotic medications, please call our office directly during regular business hours. The physicians will not refill prescriptions if a patient continues to miss scheduled appointments. All patients must be seen by their physician a minimum of every 60 days to continue to receive narcotic medications. Please call our office if you have had surgery and have problems with the medication you were given immediately after your surgery. If you are experiencing nausea uncontrolled by over-the-counter medication, please call our office at (860) 728-6740. We will address your questions at that time.
All of your medical records, office notes, and correspondence are confidential. We release information to your spouse or family members only with your written permission. Family members are, of course, welcome to accompany you on your visits here, if you wish. Our office won’t release reports concerning your health without your written authorization.
If you need tests at other facilities, our staff will help with the necessary arrangements. The facility your insurance company contracts with may not be the one we recommend or be convenient for you, so please be aware. Please understand that this issue is entirely beyond our control. We will do everything possible, within those limitations, to schedule procedures at your convenience. We may need your help with the pre-certification of your test, and again, we request your cooperation.
SURGICAL PLANNING FORMS
Click here to view our chaperone policy.
