Office Policies

Insurance/Healthcare Plans:

We participate with many insurance companies and health plans including local, national and NYS Medicaid and CHP plans.  You are responsible for providing current and updated insurance information at each appointment.

If your insurance carrier requires a primary care physician (PCP), you are responsible for contacting your insurance or health plan prior to your visit. Failure to list a PCP may result in a specialist copay or coverage denial.

You should be aware of your insurance coverage policy provisions, authorization requirements and network providers. This is a contract between you and your insurance.

We do not participate with any cost share programs. You will be expected to pay for those visits prior to appointment.

HEALTH SCREENINGS AND ROUTINE PHYSICALS:

Routine screenings are performed by our providers in accordance with American Academy of Pediatrics. These screenings gather information on behavior, mental, social and developmental assessments. These are required and important screenings. You will be responsible for the balance not paid by your insurance.

If your scheduled visit is for a routine physical and additional time is spent by your provider to address acute care, follow up visit or a med check there may be additional charges for those services.

COPAYMENTS AND DEDUCTIBLES:

Co-payments, deductibles, and co-insurance are always expected at the time of service. If there is a balance on the account at the time of service, you will be expected to pay that balance at the time of appointment, this includes balances on siblings.

NO-SHOW POLICY/SAME-DAY CANCELLATION:

To cancel an appointment, patients must notify the office 24 hours PRIOR to their appointment.  Patients who fail to notify our practice of their inability to keep an appointment 24 hours prior to the appointment date will be billed $35.00 for a regular appointment.  Patients who fail to keep the rescheduled appointment (second) will be billed for that appointment and discharged from the practice for non-compliance with the physician’s plan of care.

LATE SHOW POLICY:

Our providers know your time is important and we hope you understand the value of our time.  We want to be able to provide every patient with all the attention they require. Therefore, if you are 10 minutes or more late for your appointment, it may be necessary to reschedule for a later time or day.  It is at the discretion of the provider to see the patient or to ask the patient to reschedule. If it is determined that the provider will see the patient, the patient arriving late may have to wait until an appropriate opening is available.

TELEHEALTH VISITS/WEEKEND CALL:

We strongly believe in direct patient care, but there may be times that we perform a telehealth visit (audio only). These visits may be billed to your insurance company, and you will be responsible for any copay, deductible or coinsurance charge.

EVENING/WEEKEND/FEDERAL HOLIDAY:

There will be an additional charge for services rendered on weekends, Federal Holidays, and services after 5 pm on weekdays. You will be responsible for the balance not paid by your insurance.

MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS/WORKERS COMP:

You are responsible for providing us with accurate information regarding the date of injury, as well as your insurance company’s name and address.  If your case is denied, all outstanding balances and future services will be your responsibility unless you have secondary insurance. 

We do not participate with workers compensation, and we do not treat, or provider follow up care for any work-related injury.

STATEMENTS:

We offer text and email options for patient statement delivery. Please make sure that you have provided the correct information to get your statements delivered. Statements that need to be mailed or failure to pay may result in a statement fee charge.

FORM COMPLETION:

Carrow Street Pediatrics asks that you make a copy of all completed forms for your records as this form is good for one year and can be used for other school sports and camps. An administrative fee of $10.00 will be charged for any duplicate form requests. IMPORTANT:  Form requests require 7-10 business days to process.  

RECORDS REQUESTS:

There is an administrative fee of .75 per page for medical records requests.  This fee is not covered by insurance.  Fees must be paid in full prior to completion. All requests for medical records are required to be in writing.  IMPORTANT: Records requests require 10 business days to process.  

VACCINE POLICY:

We firmly believe in the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent serious illness and to save lives.

We firmly believe in the safety of our vaccines.

We firmly believe that all children and young adults should receive all of the recommend vaccines according to the scheduled published by the Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

We firmly believe, based on all available literature, evidence, and current studies, that vaccines do not cause autism or other developmental disabilities. We firmly believe that thimerosal, a preservative that has been in vaccines for decades and remains in some vaccines, does not cause autism or other developmental disabilities.

We firmly believe that vaccinating children and young adults may be the single most important health-promoting intervention we can perform as healthcare providers and that you can perform as parents/caregivers. The recommended vaccines and their schedule are the results of years and years of scientific study and data gathering on millions of children by thousands of our brightest scientists and physicians.

Please recognize that by not vaccinating or under vaccinating you are putting your child at unnecessary risk for life-threatening illness, disability, and even death.

Finally, if you should absolutely refuse to vaccinate your child despite all efforts, we could ask you to find another healthcare provider who shares your views.

PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEOTAPING:

Carrow Street Pediatrics prohibits the use of photography, videotaping, and or any other means of observation during office visits and or procedures. This is to ensure the privacy and safety of all patients and staff.