If it is a cover benefit on your group policy and it is none exclusion you can complete the application that you can find no our website or also in your pension education manual or turn them into our office or turn them in today and get a new patient appointment packet today. Once we get that application to review, we will mail that application appointment to you or you can give it today for the new patient packet.
If it is exclusion on your policy for bariatric surgery there are several options that we can offer to you as a patient. The first option of course will be self pay. It is very expensive to have surgery at a major hospital like Durham Regional Hospital; the national average for the room gastric bypass is $56,000.00 that being said our average Durham Regional is about $36,000.00 to $40,000.00.
A little bit less than most average on hospitals are if you want to be self paid, please give the office a call and ask to speak to me. You can find the number for me on our website also your patient education manual to make sure we discuss what exactly self pay means. We also have contact at third party loan groups. If you are interested in participating with them you can call the office and we will be happy to give you their conduct information to get a hold of them.
The next option of course is to attain your self insured policy on your own. That being said it is rather easy to do that. Insurance companies look at the fact of what your current weight is. What your height is to get your body mass index and also what kind of comorbid conditions you have like hypertension or diabetes or sleep apnea. Those two things combine make you a higher risk for the insurance company. Therefore, they penalize you and make your premiums higher.
Make sure that when you call them. Most insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield you can obtain a free quote off of their website to do so. No obligation, absolutely free, it can tell you how much the premiums are. The lowest that I have seen is about $1,400.00 up to about $2,800.00 a month so that is a lot of money. Which options are trying to prefer that you pick of course insurance. I would always like to have insurance cover your operation that way you have a complication in the future. The insurance company will cover that complication.
You want to refer to the screen and I will settle on our website and in your patient education mails that we painted to you today. Also in our fees for our program, of course the application fee which is none refundable. Once you turn that application fee in with your application they must come together where they will make you a new patient appointment. But application fee covers education materials, our website expenses, support group expenses, once came out as none refundable.
Once you turn that application in with that fee you are committed our program and we are committed to you to giving you to your surgical standpoint. Now two other fees with our program, those fees for psychological services due to psychology has opt that of insurance for poor reimbursement reasons. When you come to our office for your medical evaluation you will have an hour psychological evaluation as well. On that hour psychological evaluation you will pay out of pocket for that fee and you will be given a health information claims form or a hicfa form.
The psychologist that you see will complete and give to you and you will keep your receipt where you paid for that fee. You will try it into your insurance company for them to reimburse you directly because you have already paid for services that have rendered. Now the next fee is not paid until you actually or given a call by me to set you up for surgery day. When you have that surgery day and you come in for your preoperative evaluation you then will pay your second site fee which covers and includes one preop and four postop group sessions.
Now for our program 550 is somewhat reimbursable by your insurance company so the total was 800, 550 you make it back the total amount signed on your insurance carrier. These fees do not include also the contract that you have with your insurance company. Do you have insurance? Do you guys see a specialist or your primary care physician, you pay copay or copayments? Some insurance is $15.00. It could be as high as $60.00 so that is the contract that you have with your insurance company that you are obligated to pay when you come to our office and you are seen by a medical provider for a medical evaluation.
If you have deductibles and out-of-pockets make sure that you have called your insurance company and written that down exactly what that is. A lot of patients think just because you have insurance you have 100% coverage that is not true these days. Make sure you find out what your deductible is. What it is your out-of-pocket expense? After those are met what percentage do they cover you at for inpatient surgery is it a 100%, is it 60%?
Whatever that percentage they cover you at the remaining will not be due to date of services rendered but it will be billed to you by the hospital and by the practice. Does everybody understand those fees? Center of excellence effect of February 21st of this year, we accept all forms of major medical insurance that includes Medicare and Medicaid. Thank you.
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