Family Foot Care Clinic and you, the patient, are on the same team! We are both concerned with getting your health insurance carrier to pay their portion of your healthcare promptly.

We can not express strongly enough our recommendation that you speak with your insurance company prior to treatment so you can be certain that you understand and can comply with all of your insurance company's requirements.

In order to make the insurance process go smoothly, we have put together a list of commonly used insurance terms, suggested questions to ask your insurance provider and instructions on how to file a secondary insurance claim.

Commonly Used Insurance Terms

Copay, Co-insurance and Deductible:

This is the patient responsibility portion of a covered charge. In some cases, these expenses may be reimbursed to the patient if you have additional insurance coverage called secondary insurance. Please click here for information on filing a secondary insurance claim.

Explanation of Benefits (EOB): This is a very important document.

It details how your insurance company processed your charges. A copy is usually sent to both the patient and the doctor's (provider's) office. If you do not understand how your insurance claim was processed, please contact your insurance company for an explanation.

Assignment:

This is an insurance term telling where they will send payment for services. Assigned means the check will be sent to Family Foot Care Clinic, unassigned means the check will be sent to the patient. Medicare patients: Since we are not a participating provider for Medicare, all claims are sent unassigned. This means that the patient pays at the time of the visit and Medicare will then reimburse the patient.

Primary Care Physician (PCP):

This is your family doctor. If your insurance has indicated you have a PCP (doctor's name will be on your insurance card), your visit will NOT be covered by your insurance company unless you have been referred by your family doctor (the PCP). Most often the referral is on a form, a copy of which must be received by our office PRIOR to your visit. Your insurance company or PCP's office should be contacted for instructions on how to obtain a referral.

Policy Numbers:

Because of the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), many insurance companies are no longer using the policy holder's social security number as the "policy number". Or, they simply do not list a policy number on the card (but rather, state that it is the policy holder's SS#). In order to properly identify "you" to your insurance company, we MUST have the following information:

• Policy Number
• Group Number
• Policy Holder's Name
• Policy Holder's Employer
• Patient's Birth Date
• Insurance billing address and phone number
• Policy Number

Questions to ask your Insurance Provider

• What podiatry treatments or services are not covered under my insurance policy? Although podiatry may be a covered benefit under your policy, not all services may be considered a covered benefit. For example, orthoses and routine foot care (trimming of nails or calluses) are frequently not considered a medical service and therefore not a covered benefit. Non-covered podiatry services are uncommon.
• Do I need a referral for treatment?
• Are Dr. Neuhoff and/or Dr. Toepp participating providers in my network? If this is the case, assignment of payment is automatic.
• Is pre-certification (pre-approval) necessary for any medical or surgical procedures?

Filing a secondary insurance claim

Secondary insurance is additional insurance coverage you may have. Our office does not bill charges to secondary insurance companies. In order to file a claim with secondary insurance you will need to download a Secondary Insurance Claim form and send it to your secondary insurance provider with:

• Copy of the Explanation of Benefits (EOB)
• Copy of our charges which we will provide at the time of your visit