Patient Instructions
Patient Instructions
New Patients
You should receive new patient paperwork in the mail. If you do not receive this paperwork before your appointment, please arrive 30 minutes early, or your appointment will be canceled.
Bring these for your first visit:
Insurance card
New patient paperwork (Pain Evaluation, Registration, Acknowledgment of Patient Rights and Arbitration Form)
Photo ID (such as a driver’s license)
Co-pay
Reports from any diagnostic studies (CT, MRI, X-ray)
Medication List
Names, addresses, telephone, and fax numbers of your referring and primary doctors.
All Patients
For Injection Procedures:
Stop all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications and/or aspirin three days before your appointment.
If you are taking Plavix, Coumadin or another type of anticoagulant medication, we will need written clearance from your prescribing physician stating that it is acceptable for you to stop the medication. We require this clearance before a procedure can be scheduled. Once clearance is obtained, we will instruct you on when to stop and when to restart the medication. We will also notify you if a prior blood test is required.
If oral sedation is utilized or requested, you must have an adult present to drive you home. You cannot drive yourself home if you have been given sedation.
Patients receiving local anesthetic only can drive themselves home.
If you have an active infection, your procedure will be canceled. You must complete your course of antibiotics and be clear of any infection before a procedure is scheduled.
You may eat lightly before your procedure. However, please do not come in with a full stomach.
Wear loose, comfortable clothing.
Office Policies
Co Pays:
Our billing department will be happy to bill your insurance carrier for services rendered. However, insurance company guidelines mandate that office visit co-pays are due at the time of service. If a patient must be billed for their normal office co-pay; a $10 additional service charge will be applied.
Some insurance carriers require additional co-pays for services such as radiology or durable medical equipment. If an insurance carrier applies any additional co-pays, these will be indicated on the “Explanation of Benefits.” Once we have received payment for the claim, we will bill patients for any supplementary required co-pays at no additional cost.
Missed Appointments:
There is a $25 fee for all “no-show/missed appointments.” In the event a patient must cancel an appointment, please give 24 hours notice to avoid a missed appointment fee.To cancel an appointment after hours, please leave a message in our after-hours voicemail box. Always get the name of the person canceling the appointment or the voice mail extension if leaving a message. Missed appointment fees will only be waived under extreme circumstances.
Eligibility:
Please provide correct insurance information and keep us informed of any changes in coverage or insurance provider.
Insurance Benefits:
It is not our responsibility to know the patient’s insurance benefits.We will try to obtain benefits before treatment; however, this is not always possible.We will be happy to provide the procedure codes to verify benefits before receiving treatment, should the patient request this.
After Hours:
Our after-hours telephone number is reserved for urgent matters of current EXISTING patients which cannot wait until the following business day. Messages regarding new patients, questions about appointments, medications, medication refills will not be returned. This number is NOT intended for emergency situations or for routine care. Should you have an emergency, do not use the after hours number – dial 911 immediately. Otherwise, our after hours phone message will provide you with a number to call for urgent after hours situations.