Office Policies
Austin Thyroid & Endocrinology
OFFICE POLICIES
Patient Information
Due to the many changes in healthcare and our ability to comply with those changes and the growth in our practice, we have designed the following policies and procedures for our office.
Feedback
We are committed to providing quality services. Therefore, you may be contacted periodically by the business to provide feedback regarding your experience. This contact may come via text or email; you can opt-out anytime.
Appointments
New appointments are scheduled by phone or by making a request on our website. Return visits are scheduled at the end of your visit at checkout. You will receive a reminder 7 days ahead via phone, text, or email, followed by a second one the day before your appointment. Please call us at least 48 hours ahead to cancel your appointment. If you miss three appointments in a row, you may be discharged from our practice since we cannot provide proper healthcare without you. No-shows and late cancellations (made less than 48 hours before the appointment) are charged $50.
Lab Reporting and Review
When labs or imaging studies are ordered at the new patient visit, they will be discussed 7 to 14 days later at a face-to-face visit in our office. This allows us to discuss treatment options and formulate a plan for patient care. Labs ordered at a routine follow-up visit will be reported to you only if they are abnormal, in which case the contact will be through the portal or by phone with instructions. Test results are confidential medical records and will only be given to the patient. If you would like to designate another person to receive your test results, please ask the receptionist for a HIPAA consent form. Please allow 2 weeks for the processing and review of abnormal labs. Please note that we will not contact you for normal labs. We will not review labs done outside and reviewed by another physician by phone; you will be asked to schedule a visit to discuss the labs.
Nurse Call Backs
To avoid phone tag, the best way to contact our nurses is on the patient portal. Nurses are in the clinic from 8:00am-noon and 1 pm-3 pm. Please leave a phone message if there is no answer. Messages are checked in the morning and after lunch, and we try to reach you the same day or the next business day.
Prescriptions/Refills
Refills will done at the time of your office visit. We will provide 30 and/or 90 day prescriptions at the time of the visit. We utilize electronic prescriptions, so if you are using a mail order company, please notify them when you like your prescriptions filled and shipped. If you need a refill between visits, please do not contact our office. Contact your pharmacy, they will send a refill request on your behalf. Please allow 48 hours for processing of these refills. If your insurance changes and your prescriptions need to be rewritten, there will be a $25 charge. This is not a covered insurance benefit and will be due at the time of pickup or mailing. We will not sign for generic substitutions between visits. All prescription functions must be taken care of at the time of your visit.
Medical Records/Completion of Forms/Letters
We require signed consent to release medical records. A fee is associated with copying of records. Records sent to another provider are sent free of charge in accordance with HIPAA covered entity exclusion. Records may be requested by insurance companies and disability providers; these are released with the consent you have provided to these agencies. If you are requesting the physician to fill out a form for you, a fee of $6.50 is charged.
Insurance Companies
We are in-network providers for many insurance companies. Insurance companies make changes frequently, so to ensure coverage, please contact your insurance company prior to your visit to determine network status. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are covered before your appointment. You are financially responsible for all charges incurred during your office visit. If your insurance does not cover your visit, you will be billed. If your account is put into collections for non-payment, you will be expected to make a payment on your account prior to scheduling an appointment. All co-pays, co-insurance & deductible payments are due at the time of service.
Letters
If you request that we generate a letter or any document on your behalf, your account will be charged $25. The fee is due when the request is made. This is not a covered insurance benefit and will be billed directly to the patient.
Lost Items
Should you misplace any items generated by this office there will be a $10 charge for replacing them. This is not an insurance benefit and is due at the time of the request. This includes lost prescriptions, labs requisitions, and physician orders for testing.
Social Media
Our clinic uses social media to provide endocrine specific health information to our patients. Remember that whatever you post on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) is published for the world to see. For your own privacy and that of your family, you should consider carefully how much personal medical information you choose to broadcast to the world. If you post a comment on the social media of Austin Thyroid & Endocrinology, you agree to indemnify Austin Thyroid & Endocrinology for any damages, losses, liabilities, judgements, costs or expenses arising out of a claim by a third party relating to any material you have posted. In addition, by posting these comments, you give Austin Thyroid & Endocrinology the right to reproduce, distribute publish, display, edit, modify and otherwise use your comments for any purpose in any form and on any media.
Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM )
After a thorough evaluation in conventional Medicine Dr Scumpia might provide CAM methods including but not limited to evaluation ( BIA, Fibroscan, BMR, CIMT , PhysioAge , biomarkers and others etc. ) or treatment ( Nutritional products , IPD, First Line therapy, Orthomollecular, and others etc. ) The products are exempt from FDA under the DSHEA (Dietary Supplement and health education Act). These items are not intended to evaluate and treat but have been found to help in some cases.
Phone calls
If you do not keep your appointment and /or had tests done by another MD and want Dr Scumpia and her staff to call you and discuss results and /or plan of care without making an appointment, there will be a charge of $25-$75 depending on the length of the conversation. This is not a covered benefit by your insurance
Filming in office
There is no filming allowed inside Austin Thyroid & Endocrinology building without expressed written consent from the practice.
Excessive appeals
If an appeal or prior authorization for a diagnostic procedure or prescription will require more than one attempt and/or escalating the request to the medical director of the insurance it will generate a $25 fee to cover the excessive time spent by Dr Scumpia and her staff because your insurance refused to certify the procedure or treatment from the beginning .This is not a covered benefit by your insurance
Consent for evaluation and treatment
I understand that I have a choice in the facilities and /or products used to provide evaluation and treatment for my condition. I also acknowledge and agree that in rendering care of my condition ,ATE may choose to use products in which they have ownership interest and that I have the right to choose to have my evaluation and treatment with other health care facilities . I understand that the practice of medicine is not an exact science and acknowledge that no guarantees have been made to me as the results of examination, evaluation or treatment.