Practice Information


• Making Appointments
• Referrals
• Insurance Carriers
• Payments
• Confidentiality
• HIPAA
• Emergencies and After Hours
• Prescription Refills
• Telephone Calls


Making Appointments

We make every effort to schedule your appointment at a time and location that is convenient for you. Please keep in mind that not all our surgeons go to all our satellite offices.

If you are more than 15 minutes late for your appointment we will try very hard to accommodate you; however it may be necessary to reschedule you for another time. Please be aware that when coming to our Hartford location you will be parking in the St. Francis Hospital parking garage. Please plan to arrive an extra 15 minutes early in order to accommodate any delays you may encounter in the parking garage. There is a fee for parking in the hospital garage, so please plan accordingly.

Our goal is to see you within 15 minutes of your scheduled time. Please keep in mind that emergencies and complications may arise. We understand that your life is busy and we will do our best to inform you in advance of any change in the surgeon’s schedule that may affect your appointment. However, there will be occasions when we are unable to contact you in advance. We apologize and ask for your understanding in advance should you ever encounter this inconvenience.

Please bring with you any pertinent medical information, test results, or x-rays, and your insurance card(s) when you come for your appointment. We will do our best to tell you what you may need when you call to schedule your appointment. We ask that you hand carry all this information with you to insure that the doctor has all necessary information when he sees you.


Referrals

If your insurance company requires a referral from your primary care physician (PCP), you will not be seen until the referral is verified by our staff. It is your responsibility to make sure your PCP’s office issues the proper referral.


Insurance Carriers

We participate with most major health insurance carriers, managed care plans, and Medicare. If you have any questions about what doctors participate with your insurance plan, please contact your health insurance carrier directly. Below is a partial list of the insurance plans in which we participate.

  • Aetna
  • Anthem
  • Cigna Healthcare
  • Connecticare
  • Healthnet
  • Mediblue
  • Medicare
  • Medicaid of Connecticut

Payments

All copays are due at the time of service. If your insurance company requires that you pay an office copay, this will be due at the time you are seen. The amount you will owe is generally listed on your insurance card. Please be aware that our physicians are specialists and the copay may be higher than what you pay when you see your primary care doctor. We accept cash and checks. Wd do not accept any credit or debit cards at this time.

All other outstanding balances are due in full within 30 days of your first billing statement. If you have a large balance, you may make payment arrangements by contacting our billing department. Any outstanding account balances that have no payments made on them for over 90 days may be sent to our collection agency.

There is a $25.00 fee for any returned checks.

Uninsured patients are required to pay $175.00 at the time of their first visit. If surgery is needed, at least one-half of our fee is due prior to the surgery. Payment arrangements will be made for the balance of the fee. Our fees reflect only what is owed to our surgeons. If you have a procedure in the hospital, there will also be charges billed to you by the hospital; these are separate from our fees.


Confidentiality

The entire staff of Minimally Invasive Surgeons is trained and adheres to a strict policy regarding confidentiality of your medical records. We will not release medical information, either verbally or in writing, to any third party without written permission from the patient.


HIPAA

The following is a brief summary of your rights and our responsibilities as detailed in the Notice of Privacy Practices (the “Notice”). This summary is for your convenience and is not a substitute for reading the entire notice and does not modify the terms of the notice.

  1. Uses and Disclosures of Your Health Information. We may use the information we develop and collect for treatment by our practice or disclose the information to others to whom we refer you for treatment, for payment for these services and for certain health care “operations” such as improving the competence and quality of our staff and business planning and management. We may disclose your information to our business associates such as medical transcriptionists, billing services and others who assist in the operations of our practice. We may call you to remind you of appointments and may leave a message on your answering machine if you have one. We may also disclose information to your family about your location, general condition or death. If you are available and able, we will ask your consent first. We may also use your information to recommend products or services related to your care but will not use or disclose your medical information for marketing purposes without your written authorization. Your medical information may be disclosed without your authorization as required by law, for public health purposes, healthcare oversight, including audits and investigations, judicial and administrative proceedings, subject to the limits imposed by state and federal law, and certain other purposes.

  2. Other Uses and Disclosures. Except as described in the notice, we will not use or disclose your medical information without your written authorization. You can revoke an authorization at any time, except to the extent that we have already taken action in reliance on the authorization.

  3. Your Health Information and Rights. You have a number of rights under state and/or federal law which are subject to the terms and conditions specified in the notice:|
    1. You may request restriction on certain uses and disclosures of your information
    2. You may request that you receive your information from us in a certain way
    3. You may inspect and copy your medical records
    4. You may request an amendment to any record you believe is inaccurate
    5. You may request an accounting of disclosures made of your records

  4. Changes to the Notice. We reserve the right to change the notice. If we do so, we will post it in our office, and provide a copy upon request.

  5. Complaints. You may file a complaint to our Privacy Official whose name is above or with the federal government as detailed in the notice. You will not be penalized for filing any complaint.

Emergencies and After Hours

A physician is on call 24 hours a day for emergencies. If you have an emergency, dial our main phone number (860)241-0870 and our answering service will relay your message to the on-call physician, who will then call you as soon as possible. If you do not receive a call back after 30 minutes, please call again and tell the answering service that this is your second call. No prescriptions will be refilled after hours. Please remember that this service is for emergencies only.


Prescription Refills

Prescriptions will only be refilled during business hours, Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Call our office and leave a message for the doctor with the medication you are asking for, your pharmacy phone number and a phone number where you can be reached. When the surgeon is available, your phone call will be returned. Prescriptions for narcotics cannot be called in; you must come to our office and pick up a written prescription. If you are not picking up the prescription yourself, the person you designate must have positive ID in order to take the prescription. Narcotics will not be refilled after hours.


Telephone Calls

Phone calls to our office during regular business hours will be answered by well-trained support staff. You may be asked a number of questions in order to determine the proper disposition of your call. Once all appropriate information is taken, your call will be directed to the appropriate person. If this call requires a physician, a message will be taken and given to the doctor when he is available. Either the doctor or a staff member will return your call. Please remember that after-hour phone calls should be for emergencies only.