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New Patient Information
Our fees for the initial evaluation visit and
also the typical first follow up visits:
- For many patients, three visits is enough
to accomplish their initial goals. A typical treatment plan follows this
schedule:
The Initial Visit: Prior to your first visit Dr. Podell and
the nurse educator review your comprehensive history questionnaire, along
with lab reports and other records you submit. Plan to spend about 2.5
hours at our office for the first visit. Dr. Podell sees each patient for
about 1.5 hours. Work with the nurse educator occurs both before and after
Dr. Podell’s visit.
The goals of the first visit is to listen carefully to your history,
discuss your past records, conduct a physical examination, and develop an
over-view plan for diagnosis and treatment. At the end of the first visit
we provide each patient with a written list of instructions for the next
weeks. At your request, we will dictate a letter to or discuss your case
with your physician. If further questions occur later, we encourage you to
call Dr. Podell, Wendy King, R.N, Ph.D., or our nurse educator. Dr.
Podell’s initial visit charge is $650.
The Second Visit is usually about 4 weeks later: In some ways this
is the most important visit. We review the results from recent diagnostic
tests, and evaluate the success of the treatment strategies we began after
our first visit. For most persons the second visit is 30 minutes, and the
charge is $200. For persons whose problems are especially complex we
advise a 45 minute second visit, for which the charge is $300.
The third visit is usually about one month after the second, and
takes 30 minutes. The charge is $200.
Thus, for most persons the professional charge for the initial block of 3
visits professional charges would be $1050. For persons with especially
complex problems a $1150 is possible. Dr. Podell does not participate in
any HMO or PPO plans. We provide patients with “superbill” receipts and
diagnosis codes. Most (but not all) health insurance plans offer a degree
of reimbursement for visits to “out of plan” professionals. Dr. Podell has
“opted out” of Medicare. Therefore, you may not submit Dr. Podell’s
charges to Medicare or to a Medigap insurance. Persons who have
independent insurance coverage unrelated to Medicare may submit to their
independent provider, even if they are on Medicare. Medicare/Medigap
patients who see Dr. Podell would normally be covered for lab work and
medicines, since the laboratories and the pharmacies usually do
participate in these plans.
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- Wendy King, R.N., Ph.D is advanced
practice nurse (nurse-practitioner not a physician. She does participate
in Medicare, and accepts the standard Medicare fee schedule. (Dr. King
directs our pediatric behavioral, autistic spectrum and clinical research
programs.) For non-medicare patients Dr. King’s new patient first visit
charge is $500 . Dr. King does not participate in commercial managed care
programs.
Our office wants to help you get your insurance benefits. Although our
office does not participate in insurance plans, we provide you with the
procedure and diagnostic codes required for you to submit for "out of
plan" reimbursement. This usually is sufficient. Where insurance plans
require further information or extended discussions, our staff will help
you work with your insurance company. We charge a very modest pro-rated
fee for the staff time involved.
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- Laboratory Providers: At our Springfield
location, we draw blood in the office and usually send the labs to either
Bioreference Laboratory, Quest Labs or Labcorp.. At Somerset, there is a
Quest lab station nearby. If your health plan prefers a different lab, we
will give you a prescription for the lab tests. You you can take that
prescription to the lab. If you (or your health plan) prefers that your
primary physician order the lab tests, , we can write out our
recommendations for you to give to your primary physician. We will be
happy to discuss these with your physician if he or she has questions.
We encourage your physicians to call us about any other aspects of your
care.
We have no financial interest in any lab test. Our objective is to help
you obtain the testing you need as conveniently and as inexpensively as
you can.
Please call our office to book
appointments:
To
book an appointment for a NEW PATIENT, please follow these steps:
1) Prior to your first visit, please
complete our new patient information forms and return them to our office.
You may call our office to request a copy of the forms via mail or print
them directly from this website:
Click here to download new
patient information forms
You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader
to view and print the PDF file. Click the icon below to download
Acrobat Reader if you do not already have it installed on your computer.
2) When you complete the history form,
be sure you include the separate pages that ask in detail about your past
medical treatments and prior lab tests. This is almost always very
important information. Also, gather pertinent lab, x-ray reports,
consultation letters, etc. so we can review the entire record as we prepare
for your visit.
3) Mail the new patient forms.
We will attempt to contact you to set up an appointment when we receive your
forms. Please be sure that your phone number and/or email address is
correct. If our response to you is delayed, please don't hesitate to
contact us.
Note: We must have the completed
questionnaire before we can book an appointment. We prefer you send us the
lab reports with the questionnaire. However, as a practical matter, it’s
often best to send the questionnaire first while you continue to gather the
lab records.
By obtaining the questionnaire first, we can
review it as we prepare for your visit. Most of our patients have complex
problems. The time involved in getting organized is well worth the
(substantial) effort.
4. We ask you to send a $100 deposit with
your questionnaire. This is to hold your place. We schedule 1.5 hours
of the physician’s time and additional time with the nurse educator. You
might imagine the difficulty that results if a new patient fails to show.
If you must cancel, we will refund your deposit provided that you give at
least 14 days notice. After 14 days, the doctor will have already
devoted time carefully reviewing your case and the deposit is, therefore,
non-refundable.
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Video provided by WNBC
Please
note: Physicians are not permitted to give specific advice or answer medical
questions for individuals who have not been evaluated as patients
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