Neurological Associates of Augusta

Our goal is to provide you with the highest quality medical care.  spending quality time with our patients makes that possible.  our patient policies are designed to maximize your time with your doctor so we can address all of your needs.

For new patients, if arriving with paperwork fully completed (it can be filled out here) you may arrive 15 minutes or more before your appointment time. If planning to fill out paperwork here we ask that you arrive 45 minutes before your appointment.

For return patients, we ask that you arrive 15 minutes prior to your appointment time. Please note that your appointment time is your time to see the doctor and it will take time prior to that to update information and visit with the nurse.

Out of courtesy to other patients, if you arrive after your appointment time we may ask that you reschedule your appointment and you may be assessed a no show fee.

Our office strives to make patient care a top priority and thus does not double/over book appointment times. An integral part of providing our patients with the best care possible is patient compliance with appointments.

If you must cancel or reschedule your appointment, we ask that you please contact our office at least 48 business hours prior to your appointment time or on Thursday for any Monday appointments. A no-show fee will be assessed to the patient’s account if 48 hours (or on Thursday for a Monday appointment) is not provided for cancellation or if an appointment is missed with no notification. Multiple no shows or same-day cancellations will result in higher no show charges for each missed appointment and may result in dismissal from the practice.

• There is a $100 charge for a missed initial visit to establish care with our office. If a second initial visit is missed the appointment will not be rescheduled.

• There is a $100 charge for a missed EMG appointment.

• There is a $50 charge for the first missed return appointment.

• There is a $100 charge for the second missed return appointment.

• If a third appointment is missed, the patient may be considered noncompliant with follow up, which may result in dismissal from the practice.

No show fees are considered the responsibility of the patient and will not be billed to insurance companies or other medical billing agencies. All no show fees must be paid in full before another appointment can be scheduled. Payments can be made in the office, over the phone with a credit/debit card, or mailed in to the office. Once payment is received we are happy to reschedule an appointment for the first available time with your physician. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation with this policy.

We file your insurance claims as a courtesy to you. Your insurance is a method of reimbursement for physician services. Having insurance is not a substitute for payment. Many insurance companies have fixed allowances or percentages based on your contract with them, not with our office. It is your responsibility to pay the deductible, co-insurance, co-payment, non-covered services, and any other balance not paid by your insurance. Our office asks that the amount left to patient responsibility be paid at the time services are rendered. Any additional balances not paid by the insurance company are ultimately the responsibility of the patient. Any balances left to patient responsibility are expected to be paid within 30 days of receipt of the first account statement for that balance. After the first statement a rebill fee of $5 will apply to each statement sent.

If you have questions about insurance or billing, please Contact our office.

Past due balances will incur an account-maintenance fee once the balance is 30 days past due. After 60 days past due this new balance as well as any no-show fees will be forwarded to an outside collection agency. All additional costs incurred due to the delinquency of the account are the patient’s responsibility. These costs may include billing fees, collection agency cost, which may exceed 50 percent of the balance, and/or attorney fees if applicable. The patient must then contact the agency rather than the office for any further payment arrangements.

Patients who provide checks with insufficient funds will incur a fee of $35 and will no longer be permitted to pay by personal check.

• We do not accept pharmacy prescription refill requests.

• Please request medication refills at your appointments, through our patient portal, or by calling the prescription refill line and allow 72 business hours to process all prescription refill requests.

• It is office policy that controlled (scheduled) substances are not refilled outside of regular office hours. This does include some seizure medications due to FDA labeling.  There are no exceptions to this policy.

• If you are calling with a standard refill request and are an active patient (seen regularly) then the medication will be sent to the pharmacy without a return phone call to the patient.

• Per office policy you must been seen at least once a year for us to refill your medication. Please check with the pharmacy prior to calling our office back to check on the refill as multiple phone calls to the office will slow the refill process down.

• Prior Authorizations (PA): Medical offices are seeing a dramatic increase in PA requests from insurance companies often times for generic, low cost medications. These are cost-saving tactics from insurers that increase the work load of medical offices. Our office will no longer complete PAs for these low cost generic medications. We would ask that you ask your insurance companies to stop requiring extra work from medical offices that have already determined the medication is medically necessary.

• Our office will complete ONE Prior Authorization (PA) per calendar year per medication we recommend. If your insurance plan requires additional PAs or in the event of a change in insurance requiring a new PA, there may be a charge of $35 per PA. If your PA is denied and the doctor must do a letter of appeal or medical necessity or a “peer to peer,” a $35 charge will be added to the account. These will not be billed to insurance and will be the responsibility of the patient.

Please allow 24 hours during the week for return phone call from nursing staff.  Note we close at 12 PM on Fridays. Please do not call more than 1 time per 24h hours. Excessive phone calls will result in additional fees to the patient. These are not covered by insurance. Please do not call AND send a portal message.

For faster response please use the patient portal. Please be considerate in your use of the portal and allow 24-48 weekday hours for a response. Please do not send a portal message and leave a voicemail. Excessive portal use will result in charges that may not be covered by insurance. The portal is not a substitute for a patient visit and cannot be used to manage new problems. Please understand that an office visit may be required to follow up a portal concern. Please allow 7 days post scans or up to 2 weeks post labs for results; it often takes this long for the imaging center or lab to get us your results, especially if sent out.

If you have a medical emergency please call 911 and go to the nearest emergency room.

Our physicians are on call after hours for emergencies only; please understand our office is charged for each after hours call. Please see refill policy above. Repeated calls or abuse of this system will be assessed a $35 fee.

If you are calling with a standard refill request and are an active patient (seen regularly) then the medication will be sent to the pharmacy without a return phone call to the patient. Please check with the pharmacy prior to calling our office back to check on the refill.

We understand that your place of employment or other agency may require that you provide documentation outside of the clinical office note. We are happy to complete these for you but please understand that we do charge a fee starting at $35 based on the length of the form and the time anticipated to complete it. Please allow at least 7-10 business days for this process.  Forms are completed in the order they are received. There are some forms we will be unable to complete. You must have been seen within the last 6 months for form completion. Thank you for your understanding.