Practice
Policies
Appointments for Initial Visits, Follow-Ups, and Surgical Procedures may be conveniently scheduled for Mornings, Afternoons, and Early Evenings. We try to see all patients on an appointment basis, and we request that you call in advance so that we can reserve time for you. We make every effort to honor all time commitments and we request that you extend us the same courtesy. We would also like to request that any scheduled appointments you need changed, be done at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled time. On occasion, emergencies may arise, and whenever possible, you will be fully informed if there will be any delays or schedule changes.
All patients are encouraged to call with any questions they may have regarding a medical or billing problem. However, it would be most unfair to our patients if the doctors were interrupted to answer every phone call. The office staff will relay your information to the doctor and your call will be returned or otherwise answered in a timely matter. All phone calls are answered. You will reach our Voice Mail system if the office is closed or unavailable when you call. If you're calling regarding a medical emergency, you will be given a number to call a live operator who will then facilitate contacting the on-call physician. Prescription refills or appointment cancellations are generally not considered medical emergencies. If you are not calling regarding a medical emergency, please leave a message with our Voice Mail system. Remember to leave your name, phone number and reason for the call. Your message will be retrieved and in most cases responded to by the following business day (or that same afternoon if you call while the office is at lunch).
All prescriptions and authorizations for refills should be requested during normal office hours. If the office is closed, you may leave a message with our Voice Mail.
We recognize that our patients may have emergency situations arise. We will do our best to respond to your problem promptly. In the event of a critical situation, go immediately to the Emergency Room of the nearest hospital and ask them to contact our office. The physicians are on staff at Kaleida Health System’s Buffalo General Hospital and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. In case of emergency, the doctors prefer that you seek care at one of these hospitals. If the situation is not critical but one in which you wish to contact one of our doctors, please telephone our office and one of the doctors will return your call either personally or through one of our trained office personnel.
We make every effort to keep the cost of medical care down. You can help by paying upon the completion of your visit. Billing is extremely costly, and we strive to minimize costs whenever possible. Cosmetic Procedures must be paid in full on the day of service prior to treatment. This includes: elective Pulsed Dye Laser Surgery, Botox® Cosmetic, MegaPeel® MicroDermabrasion, Glycolic Acid Peels, Fat Transfers, Collagen & Sclerotherapy Injections, and any other minor elective medically unnecessary procedures (ex. removal of moles or skin tags that are not symptomatic). Payment will be required 14 days in advance for major cosmetic procedures such as Laser Resurfacing, Liposuction, Chemical Peels and Eyelid Rejuvenation (Blepharoplasty).Biopsies are sent to an Independent Laboratory for slide preparation. There will be an additional pathology fee which will be posted on your account after we receive, and Dr. Wilson has read your slide(s); approximately two weeks after the biopsy date. You should submit these charges to your insurance carrier, if we do not participate with them.
We request that all bills which are the patient's responsibility be paid within 30 days. Office visit charges are to be paid on the date of service. If for some reason you cannot pay your bill on time, please advise our office, and we'll do our best to work out a payment plan with you. Unless other arrangements are made, we turn unpaid accounts over to a collection agency and/or attorney after 90 days. All accounts turned over to a collection agency and/or attorney will be subject to a 25% collection surcharge. There is a $25.00 service charge for returned checks. For your convenience we accept CASH, CHECK, VISA, MC, AMEX, DISCOVER
We know questions can arise on insurance matters, please feel free to discuss them with our staff.
WE PARTICIPATE WITH THE FOLLOWING INSURANCE CARRIERS:
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of WNY
Community Blue
Empire Plan
Independent Health
Medicare
Univera Healthcare
We will automatically submit claims to the carriers above. Since participation may change, always check with our office to verify if we are still enrolled with your insurance carrier. If we do not participate with your insurance, you will be provided with an itemized statement that can be forwarded to your carrier(s) for reimbursement.
Note: We DO NOT participate with Medicaid, Worker's Compensation, and No Fault. Patients with these policies (whether primary or secondary) are advised to seek care from a participating provider. If we Participate with your insurance If you are a member of an Insurance Company we participate with, we will process all claims for you. You will be responsible to pay any deductible amount, co-payment, or any other balance your insurance carrier deems as your responsibility. Please present your insurance card(s) and referral (if applicable) at EACH visit as coverages often change.
A note on Co-Payments; If your insurance carrier requires a co-payment, it must be paid on the DATE of SERVICE. Co-payments are a contractual agreement between you and your insurance carrier. As a specialist, we are required to collect co-payments at EACH VISIT. Co-payments are generally small amounts that are too costly to bill, therefore a $5 Billing Surcharge will be added to your bill each time a co-payment is not paid on the date of service.
If we do not participate with your Insurance If you are NOT a member of an insurance we participate with, we require payment for the office visit on the day of service, any additional charges must be paid within 30 days. We try to simplify the preparation of insurance claims, thereby holding down costs which are unrelated to the delivery of good medical care. Therefore, we will supply you with an itemized bill which contains all of the necessary information for you to submit to your insurance carrier for reimbursement. It is your responsibility to pay any deductible, co-insurance, or any other balance not paid for by your insurance.
If you have Multiple Insurances; If you have two or more insurances and we DO participate with your primary insurance, but not with your secondary insurance, we will process the claim with your primary carrier. After we receive payment, the balance will be transferred to your responsibility. Payment of the balance is required within 30 days. You will receive an Explanation of Benefits from your primary insurance showing when and what they paid us. You must send a copy of this to your secondary insurance (attached to a claim) so they can pay their portion of the bill if applicable. If you have two or more insurances and we DO NOT participate with your primary insurance, but do participate with your secondary insurance you must submit our itemized bill to your primary insurance as soon as possible. When you receive any payments or rejections you must forward a copy of the Explanation of Benefits to us along with any payments so we may bill your secondary insurance for the balance. Failure to provide an Explanation of Benefits in a timely manner may result in the forfeiture of benefits from your secondary carrier.
Brummitte Dale Wilson, M.D. & Associates are participating physicians with Medicare. This means that we will accept Medicare’s allowance and bill you for the 20% co-insurance and/or deductible for which, according to law, you are responsible.
Note: Since we use an outside laboratory to prepare specimens into slides, Medicare requires that pathology charges be separated into two components (technical and professional). The laboratory we utilize to prepare slides is also a participating provider, and will bill Medicare directly for the slide preparation (technical component) of any pathology. You will however, be responsible to pay the laboratory for any co-insurance and/or deductibles associated with their charges. We will bill Medicare for the interpretation of slides (professional component).
Good communication between you and your physician is vital. So, do tell us about problems or questions you might have. If you do not understand an answer or if new problems arise, please let us know. We try to provide you with the best medical care, and we need your cooperation to succeed.
Appointments
Appointments for Initial Visits, Follow-Ups, and Surgical Procedures may be conveniently scheduled for Mornings, Afternoons, and Early Evenings. We try to see all patients on an appointment basis, and we request that you call in advance so that we can reserve time for you. We make every effort to honor all time commitments and we request that you extend us the same courtesy. We would also like to request that any scheduled appointments you need changed, be done at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled time. On occasion, emergencies may arise, and whenever possible, you will be fully informed if there will be any delays or schedule changes.
Telephone
Calls
All patients are encouraged to call with any questions they may have regarding a medical or billing problem. However, it would be most unfair to our patients if the doctors were interrupted to answer every phone call. The office staff will relay your information to the doctor and your call will be returned or otherwise answered in a timely matter. All phone calls are answered. You will reach our Voice Mail system if the office is closed or unavailable when you call. If you're calling regarding a medical emergency, you will be given a number to call a live operator who will then facilitate contacting the on-call physician. Prescription refills or appointment cancellations are generally not considered medical emergencies. If you are not calling regarding a medical emergency, please leave a message with our Voice Mail system. Remember to leave your name, phone number and reason for the call. Your message will be retrieved and in most cases responded to by the following business day (or that same afternoon if you call while the office is at lunch).
Prescriptions
All prescriptions and authorizations for refills should be requested during normal office hours. If the office is closed, you may leave a message with our Voice Mail.
Emergency
Care
We recognize that our patients may have emergency situations arise. We will do our best to respond to your problem promptly. In the event of a critical situation, go immediately to the Emergency Room of the nearest hospital and ask them to contact our office. The physicians are on staff at Kaleida Health System’s Buffalo General Hospital and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. In case of emergency, the doctors prefer that you seek care at one of these hospitals. If the situation is not critical but one in which you wish to contact one of our doctors, please telephone our office and one of the doctors will return your call either personally or through one of our trained office personnel.
Fees and
Payments
We make every effort to keep the cost of medical care down. You can help by paying upon the completion of your visit. Billing is extremely costly, and we strive to minimize costs whenever possible. Cosmetic Procedures must be paid in full on the day of service prior to treatment. This includes: elective Pulsed Dye Laser Surgery, Botox® Cosmetic, MegaPeel® MicroDermabrasion, Glycolic Acid Peels, Fat Transfers, Collagen & Sclerotherapy Injections, and any other minor elective medically unnecessary procedures (ex. removal of moles or skin tags that are not symptomatic). Payment will be required 14 days in advance for major cosmetic procedures such as Laser Resurfacing, Liposuction, Chemical Peels and Eyelid Rejuvenation (Blepharoplasty).Biopsies are sent to an Independent Laboratory for slide preparation. There will be an additional pathology fee which will be posted on your account after we receive, and Dr. Wilson has read your slide(s); approximately two weeks after the biopsy date. You should submit these charges to your insurance carrier, if we do not participate with them.
Payment
Terms
We request that all bills which are the patient's responsibility be paid within 30 days. Office visit charges are to be paid on the date of service. If for some reason you cannot pay your bill on time, please advise our office, and we'll do our best to work out a payment plan with you. Unless other arrangements are made, we turn unpaid accounts over to a collection agency and/or attorney after 90 days. All accounts turned over to a collection agency and/or attorney will be subject to a 25% collection surcharge. There is a $25.00 service charge for returned checks. For your convenience we accept CASH, CHECK, VISA, MC, AMEX, DISCOVER
Insurance
Carriers
We know questions can arise on insurance matters, please feel free to discuss them with our staff.
WE PARTICIPATE WITH THE FOLLOWING INSURANCE CARRIERS:
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of WNY
Community Blue
Empire Plan
Independent Health
Medicare
Univera Healthcare
We will automatically submit claims to the carriers above. Since participation may change, always check with our office to verify if we are still enrolled with your insurance carrier. If we do not participate with your insurance, you will be provided with an itemized statement that can be forwarded to your carrier(s) for reimbursement.
Note: We DO NOT participate with Medicaid, Worker's Compensation, and No Fault. Patients with these policies (whether primary or secondary) are advised to seek care from a participating provider. If we Participate with your insurance If you are a member of an Insurance Company we participate with, we will process all claims for you. You will be responsible to pay any deductible amount, co-payment, or any other balance your insurance carrier deems as your responsibility. Please present your insurance card(s) and referral (if applicable) at EACH visit as coverages often change.
A note on Co-Payments; If your insurance carrier requires a co-payment, it must be paid on the DATE of SERVICE. Co-payments are a contractual agreement between you and your insurance carrier. As a specialist, we are required to collect co-payments at EACH VISIT. Co-payments are generally small amounts that are too costly to bill, therefore a $5 Billing Surcharge will be added to your bill each time a co-payment is not paid on the date of service.
If we do not participate with your Insurance If you are NOT a member of an insurance we participate with, we require payment for the office visit on the day of service, any additional charges must be paid within 30 days. We try to simplify the preparation of insurance claims, thereby holding down costs which are unrelated to the delivery of good medical care. Therefore, we will supply you with an itemized bill which contains all of the necessary information for you to submit to your insurance carrier for reimbursement. It is your responsibility to pay any deductible, co-insurance, or any other balance not paid for by your insurance.
If you have Multiple Insurances; If you have two or more insurances and we DO participate with your primary insurance, but not with your secondary insurance, we will process the claim with your primary carrier. After we receive payment, the balance will be transferred to your responsibility. Payment of the balance is required within 30 days. You will receive an Explanation of Benefits from your primary insurance showing when and what they paid us. You must send a copy of this to your secondary insurance (attached to a claim) so they can pay their portion of the bill if applicable. If you have two or more insurances and we DO NOT participate with your primary insurance, but do participate with your secondary insurance you must submit our itemized bill to your primary insurance as soon as possible. When you receive any payments or rejections you must forward a copy of the Explanation of Benefits to us along with any payments so we may bill your secondary insurance for the balance. Failure to provide an Explanation of Benefits in a timely manner may result in the forfeiture of benefits from your secondary carrier.
Medicare
and Railroad Medicare Patients
Brummitte Dale Wilson, M.D. & Associates are participating physicians with Medicare. This means that we will accept Medicare’s allowance and bill you for the 20% co-insurance and/or deductible for which, according to law, you are responsible.
Note: Since we use an outside laboratory to prepare specimens into slides, Medicare requires that pathology charges be separated into two components (technical and professional). The laboratory we utilize to prepare slides is also a participating provider, and will bill Medicare directly for the slide preparation (technical component) of any pathology. You will however, be responsible to pay the laboratory for any co-insurance and/or deductibles associated with their charges. We will bill Medicare for the interpretation of slides (professional component).
A
Final Word . . .
Good communication between you and your physician is vital. So, do tell us about problems or questions you might have. If you do not understand an answer or if new problems arise, please let us know. We try to provide you with the best medical care, and we need your cooperation to succeed.