WELCOME. We are looking forward to assisting you with your healthcare at Carolina Internal Medicine Associates, PA. For those of you with Internet Access, you may find additional information and services at our website (www.carolinaim.com). To assist you, we have listed below CIMA's policy or procedure in several key areas. We hope this will assist you when you need to reach us. Please feel free to forward your questions and suggestions, or ask us how we handle any situation that you have questions about.

TELEPHONE: When you call, please listen to the options until you find the one that most suits your needs. Most commonly used are: Illness Inquiry (Option 8), Medical Records (Option 7), Insurance/Billing (Option 5), and New Patient Appointment (Option 6). You may reach one of the operators by pressing 0. Our receptionists are not advice nurses. A variety of medical office personnel answer the phones. Your doctor's nurse serves to provide advice on medical care for you. When you call, leave a message with the receptionist, for your nurse to call back. Most calls should be returned that day. We do hold the phone during the lunch hour from 12 noon to 1:00pm.

APPOINTMENTS: Upon becoming our patient you are assigned a primary care doctor. When you request an appointment we first will check your personal physician's schedule. If you have an "urgent" need, and want to be seen that day, you will be offered the next appointment with your doctor, if available that day, or if unavailable, with the physician extender or another doctor. On each visit, always bring your current insurance card or cards. Please let us know if anything has changed, i.e.; employer, work number, address, home phone number, insurance, co-payment, etc.

WALK IN CLINIC: Our Walk-In-Clinic is open from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Monday through Friday for "minor problems" without a scheduled appointment.  All others call our office to schedule a "same day appointment".

PHYSICIAN EXTENDERS: We have three physician extenders who are usually available to see patients the same day an appointment is requested. Physician assistants and family nurse practitioners are licensed health care providers who work with the physicians to facilitate patient care. They can diagnose and treat a variety of illnesses, perform physical exams, order and interpret laboratory tests, treat with medication, and perform a variety of procedures. You can schedule an appointment with a PA or FNP when your doctor is not available, or if you choose, you may see the PA at your request.

LATE FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT: Patients late for appointments will routinely be rescheduled to another time.

APPOINTMENT CANCELLATIONS: We appreciate you promptly notifying us if you can not make your appointment, so that we can give that time to another patient.

NO SHOW POLICY:When a patient misses an appointment, it leads to disruption in our ability to see patients in a timely manner.  Additionally, the practice must then review the patient's record to see what needs to be done regarding a future appointment.  Finally, there are adverse financial consequences to the practice.

 CIMA has instituted the following policy regarding patients who fail to notify the office of a schedule change within 24 hours of the visit.

• $75.00 for physical exam
• $65.00 for ultrasound
• $45.00 for bone density
• $25.00 for an office visit

Please note that this is a charge that will be billed to you directly and cannot be submitted to an insurance company for reimbursement.  If you have questions regarding this policy, please call the office at (828) 258-0397.

PRESCRIPTION REFILLS: Ideally you should obtain any prescription refill you need from your doctor at a scheduled office visit. However, if you need a refill we prefer you to contact your Pharmacist and have them fax us your refill request. Refills will be called or faxed to your pharmacy within 24-48 hours unless there is a problem. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR PHARMACY FIRST BEFORE CALLING THE OFFICE BACK TO SEE IF IT HAS BEEN CALLED IN. Also, we are unable to call Pharmacy Benefit Managers, like Merck Medco, CareMark, or Advance PCS. But, we will provide you your appropriate prescription(s) so that you can forward these to your Pharmacy Benefit Manager. Please DO NOT wait until you have completely run out of medicine to request a refill.  PRESCRIPITONS, AFTER HOURS: There will be a $25 charge for prescriptions that are called in after hours resulting from a phone consultation, and not part of an office visit or part of a continuing medical problem, for which we are treating.  Your health plan does not cover this charge.  Please protect your new prescriptions...there will be a $5.00 charge per prescription if it is necessary to duplicate them.

LAB RESULTS: We will generally notify you of your lab results by a letter. In situations where more detailed information needs to be given, someone from the office will call you.

REFERRALS/AUTHORIZATIONS: Please make an appointment with your provider if you need a referral. Based on your medical condition, your doctor will suggest an appropriate physician on your plan. The request will be forwarded to our referral coordinator who will contact you concerning the referral. We suggest you check with your specialist at least two days prior to your appointment to insure they have your authorization on hand.

ILLNESS AFTER HOURS: We always have a physician on call after hours if your medical problem absolutely cannot wait until office hours. Just call the main number (828-258-0397) for instructions on how to reach the on-call physician. For an emergency, please dial 911 first.

FORMS AND PHYSICAL EXAM DOCUMENTS: There are increasing numbers of forms and physical exam documents that are requested to be completed during the year for our patients. Various correspondences or documents that we take time to complete will incur fees ranging from $15 to $25 depending on the time required to accomplish your request. Please allow 7 days to complete.

PHONE TRIAGE: We prefer to treat our patients in the office with direct histories and physical exams, but occasionally we will treat certain conditions over the phone. When we prescribe medicines over the phone for you, there may be a fee for this service. We will continue to refill your regular medications, which is best done during your health care visits to our office.

INSURANCE  PLANS: Right now, we participate with the following insurance companies: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicare, MedCost, State Health Plan, Primary Physician Care, TriCare, Western Carolina Well Care (WCWC), Accordia (MSJ, Community Care Partners, Thoms Rehab, Mountain Care), VHP, Hospice and First Health.  Please see the website and/or check with our office for an update on our participation in health plans.

PAYMENT POLICY: PAYMENT IS DUE AT TIME OF SERVICE. We accept cash, checks, MasterCard, Visa and Debit cards. When we “participate” with your insurance company your copay and/or your coinsurance payment is due at Time of Service. When we do not participate with your insurance company we request that you pay In Full at the Time of Service. We will mail your insurance claim to your insurance company. When you have a secondary insurance company, you will need to mail, fax, or bring us a copy of the Primary Insurance Company's EOB (Explanation of Benefits). We will then file the claim to your secondary insurance company.

When you have Medicare we will file and balance bill for any amounts due. We do participate with Medicare, and therefore, we do accept assignment. Medicare will reimburse us directly. If you have a secondary insurance company we will file that claim for you as well.