Cost of Care
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With the skyrocketing cost of healthcare, you may be questioning whether you can afford to get the medical attention you need. Dr. Cook and his staff understand these concerns – and we're here to guide you through the process. At the same time, it's helpful to discuss the factors that often escalate the cost of care. Time Is (Literally) Money In order to survive and pay the bills, most doctors have had to see more and more patients. Thus, the amount of time that they spend with their patients has gotten shorter and shorter. But many of the health care issues that women are dealing with are complex, and take time to adequately address. At Vital Health Institute we are devoted to providing our patients with as much quality time with our health care providers as they need. Your first appointment with Dr. Cook will often be a full hour, or longer. He will review your history carefully, ask the questions needed to get to the root of your health care problems – and most importantly, he will listen. His goal (and the goal of everyone at VHI) is that you walk out of our office with as much information you need to make an informed decision about your course of treatment. As a result, your fee for your VHI visit may be higher than what you are used to paying for an appointment with your primary physician. But in reality, seeing Dr. Cook is a much more cost-effective healthcare alternative: Instead of paying for five or six office visits with your general practitioner, or seeing five or six specialists for each different problem, Dr. Cook will frequently be able to diagnose your condition – and with the right combination of surgical and non-surgical treatment, you'll have a treatment plan to follow for a successful outcome. Out of Network – But Still Working for You In most fee-for-service practices, the patient must submit the claim to their insurance company and try to get reimbursement after they have paid the doctor. At Vital Health Institute we have hired a company, North Billing Service (NBS), to process and submit all of our patients' insurance claims and do everything possible to get the maximum reimbursement from their insurance companies. This greatly streamlines what can be an extremely cumbersome and frustrating process. Vital Health Institute pays for this service, which is provided free of charge to our patients. We're experienced at dealing with all of the major insurance providers, and will submit the claims and all of the necessary paperwork to your carrier. If required, we will also secure any pre-authorizations needed prior to your treatment and/or surgery. Unfortunately, health care is expensive. But, at Vital Health Institute, we do our best to provide the best, most cost-effective health care, along with outstanding service to our patients. How Health Insurance Coverage Works There are several basic types of health insurance. A PPO, or Preferred Provider Organization, covers a percentage of your health care services. The "in-network" providers are reimbursed at a higher percentage than "out-of-network" providers. The amount of this percentage will vary, depending upon your monthly insurance premium. What your insurance company will not volunteer is that the percentage quoted is based on "negotiated rates" – not the average cost, or usual and customary (U&C) fee charged in your area. Essentially, each plan for each insurance company has a different negotiated fee. For a low-cost monthly plan, the negotiated fee can be as little as 10 percent of the usual and customary fee. If you are a member of a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), in-network providers are covered at 100 percent, and out-of-network providers are covered at zero percent. On rare exceptions, out-of-network providers may be covered if the patient is able to get approval prior to see the doctor (but only if the HMO agrees that they do not have an in-network provider that can cover the service). Any services provided by Vital Health Institute will be considered "out of network" by an HMO (i.e., your insurance company will not cover any of the costs). Another factor to keep in mind is that if you are having surgery, the hospital, anesthesiologist and pathologist are all separate providers. They may be considered in-network, even if Vital Health Institute and Dr. Cook are out-of-network. Financing Available |
