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It may be appropriate to review details of The Travel Clinic's financial policy with you.
You are probably aware that we expect to collect our advertised deposit-payment for each service when you receive it. This figure represents the bare minimum we must collect to stay in business, and includes a "pay today" cash discount. Whether we bill insurance or not, our usual procedure is that after you leave our office, you will owe us nothing further for what you received that day. We generally do not collect in advance for services to be delivered in the future, like booster shots. In this way, transactions between us are on a real-time, cash basis, and there are fewer loose ends to tie up after your visit.
We are happy to bill your insurance to try to get some of your money back for you. In general, about half of our travelers have insurance which may cover part or all of office visit and vaccine charges. It often takes 4-6 weeks for you to hear from your insurance about what they will pay. The explanation of benefits (EOB) from your insurance company may look like a bill (which it is not) and may state that you owe us something additional (which you will not). Insurance companies are unaware of the deposit you have made which takes care of that issue. For some reason, there is usually an additional two week delay until we receive information from insurance companies. We use the information from them to figure out any refund you may have coming. We do not bill insurance
(because they will not reimburse us like a pharmacy) for antimalarials, diarrhea treatment kits or insect
repellent. If your insurance refund for the visit fee and vaccines is less
than the amount you paid us, it may be because you purchased these additional
items.
We bill insurance for standard fees which are usually higher than our deposit. Your insurance may reimburse for some vaccines, but not others. Refunds are figured on an item-by-item or line-by-line basis. Generally, we will refund the amount paid to us by your insurance company up to the amount of your deposit for that item. If we are a participating provider for your insurance company, we will be bound by their fee schedule, and we will refund the full amount of your deposit for covered items.
If it has been a couple of months since you received services, and you have not received your expected refund, please call us. Our system is not perfect and we may have inadvertently overlooked the response from your insurance company. After you have received your refund, please contact us if you want a written, item-by-item accounting of the sometimes complex relationship between you, us and your insurance company. You may leave a request 24/7 on our voice mail if you call when we are out of the office, or request it by email through our website.
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