Office Policies

Payments and Insurance 

Parents are financially responsible for their child’s care. Like other professionals, we expect payment for services rendered at our clinic at the time of the service unless prior arrangements are made. For your convenience, we accept Discover, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. We also offer an online payment option: 

Please note, you must have your account number located on your billing statement to use this link.

Should you anticipate any difficulty paying for your care, please consult our office staff. We will make every effort to work with you whenever possible. Unless other arrangements are made, we turn over unpaid accounts to a collection agency or attorney after an appropriate period and you will be responsible for the costs of collection.  We will assist you in filing your insurance for your reimbursement if you have insurance through one of the Managed Care plans in which we participate. We are sorry but we do not accept Medicaid, Magnolia, or MSCAN. 

Currently, we participate in the following insurances: 

If you have insurance that is not through one of the managed care plans that we participate in, we will furnish you with a copy of our fee ticket. You will be able to send this to your insurance company for reimbursement. You will be asked to pay at the end of each visit for all services rendered. 

Divorced parents may have a divorce decree that establishes their financial responsibilities with respect to each other. We are NOT a party to the decree or bound by the terms of the divorce decree. The decree is an agreement between the parents, not with our practice. We require the parent accompanying the child for treatment to accept primary responsibility for payment of services. 

Some insurance plans offer coverage for preventative health care services or “well-baby” care. If your family does not have insurance or Medicaid/Chip, vaccines are available for a minimal charge through our office because they will qualify for the Vaccines for Children Program. Please feel free to ask about this if you have any questions. 

If you have insurance coverage through a managed care plan that we participate in, we will bill the appropriate insurance carrier for their portion. It is your responsibility to pay any deductibles, co-pays, or co-insurance amounts at the time of the visit. Given the many insurance plans available, we ask you to become familiar with the coverage and regulations of your family’s insurance plan. BlueCross/BlueShield is the only insurance that we will file as secondary. 

Pre-authorization and networks 

Please be aware that many insurance carriers require prior notification of any hospital services, including labs and x-rays. Certain insurance carriers also require updates and pre-authorizations of medical treatments. Many carriers have a list of “in-network” physicians. These lists are important if the need for a possible referral to another physician arises. You need to become familiar with the hospitals and specialists that are approved by your insurance plan. You also need to be familiar with your plan’s requirements for referrals. If your insurance carrier requires a referral from your pediatrician to see a specialist, we ask that you contact our office at least seven to ten days in advance of your desired specialist appointment date to assure adequate time to process your referral.

Emergencies

In case of an extreme emergency in which there is an immediate need for a physician to sustain life, we recommend taking your child to the nearest emergency room or calling 911. A physician is on duty 24 hours a day at each of the emergency rooms in the Rankin and Hinds County area. If you are our patient, we should be notified of your arrival. If your emergency is not life threatening but warrants urgent attention, please refer to our 24-hour telephone consultation listed under Services. 

Laboratory Results

The simplest and most effective way of communicating laboratory testing results to our patients and parents is to have the parent call our office after a specified amount of time. Tracking a parent down with laboratory results is a time-consuming and costly endeavor for which you, the parent, must bear the cost. Because of this reason, it is our office policy to have parents contact us for their child’s laboratory results. When a lab test is done on your child, we will inform you as to when you should call back for the results. At that time, we can discuss the results of your child’s laboratory testing and any further plans based upon those results. Of course, if an abnormal result of a laboratory test is received on your child, we will call you immediately to discuss this with you. Please leave the telephone number where you can easily be reached with the nurse. 

Follow-up Visits

Follow-up visits are another important aspect of our practice. Certain serious illnesses require follow-up visits until the problem is resolved. Other illnesses, such as ear infections, also require follow-up visits, usually ten days to two weeks after the infection, to ensure that the problem has resolved. Follow-up visits are extremely important to ensure that further treatment is not needed. It is your responsibility to keep the follow-up appointments as recommended by our office. Failure to keep your follow-up appointment may result in significant health effects in your child. 

Prescriptions

Routine prescriptions and refills are issued during regular office hours only. If you are calling for a refill, please give us the patient’s name, medication, and pharmacy phone number. We generally do not prescribe antibiotics over the telephone. We ask for one week’s notice if you need a refill on these controlled substances. If you need such prescriptions, call the office and the nurse will let you know whether an appointment is necessary.

Vaccine Policy

Please see the section Vaccinations under Services for our vaccine policy.