Office Policies
Thank you for choosing Dr. Herrera and Complete Care Medicine as your primary care specialist. We welcome you! We are committed to providing the finest personalized and professional care possible for our patients. We hope the following information will help answer some of your questions and help you understand how our office operates.
Office Hours
Monday through Thursday 7:30 am to 5:30 pm *Friday 7:30 am to 4:00 pm
*Friday afternoon is reserved for sick visits only and appointments must be made that morning.
Courtesy
We strive to provide the best medical care for our patients. While we make every effort to provide prompt on-time service, the healthcare needs of each individual do not necessarily lend themselves to an exact schedule. We therefore appreciate your understanding and patience. If you have any suggestions or complaints for our office, please let us know. Angry or foul language directed to our staff regardless of the issue involved will absolutely not be tolerated and will be grounds for immediate dismissal from our practice.
Scheduling Appointments
Appointments can be scheduled by phone, in person or online through the patient portal. We ask that all patients arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled appointment time.
Appointment Information & No Show Policy
We made every effort to provide prompt medical care to all our patients. If you are unable to keep a scheduled appointment, please let us know 24 hours in advance. A NO SHOW is when a patient fails to keep a scheduled appointment. A second no show will generate a $50 fee and third no show may require that you seek medical care elsewhere. In the event you have a special circumstance regarding your missed appointment, please contact our office manager. We understand that there may be issues beyond your control and want to be understanding of special circumstances.
If you are delayed and cannot make an appointment time, please call and advise us of your situation and provide an estimated time of arrival. A delay greater than 5 minutes may require the visit to be rescheduled.
If you are a walk-in patient, please understand that there are patients who have scheduled appointments, and you will be seen at the next available time slot. We strongly encourage you to call the office for an appointment first.
In general, we do not recommend combining your PHYSICAL visits with PROBLEM visits at the same time since your insurance often may not pay for both.
Due to the current nature of insurance-based medical practices, we also ask that you limit your visit to 1-2 problems only. Should you have more medical issues that need to be addressed, please inform our staff when calling for appointments, and we will schedule more time for you accordingly. Your provider may also have you return for follow-up visits in order to address your additional concerns.
Multiple family member appointments must be scheduled in advance. Family members who are present at the time another member’s appointment, but are not scheduled, will be required to schedule an appointment at a later time.
Supervision of children & minors present without parents or legal guardian
For safety reasons, we depend on parents to properly supervise their child(ren) at all times. Our staff cannot watch your child(ren). Under no circumstances should a child under the age of 10 be left unattended. We also require a consent form signed by a parent or legal guardian to legally provide medical care to minors 16 & 17 years of age when a parent or legal guardian cannot be present. Minors 15 years of age and younger must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
Fees & Payments
Payment in full is due at the time services are rendered unless we are submitting charges to your insurance company. Co-pays and deductibles are due at the time of service or your appointment may be rescheduled. We accept all major credit cards. We also accept money orders, cashier checks & cash. Those patients without proof of coverage may be required to pay in full or be asked to reschedule their appointments. If we are not contracted with your particular insurance plan, you must pay in full at time of service. A copy of your driver’s license will be taken. You will be given a copy of our charge slip to submit to your insurance company for reimbursements purposes.
Even though we will bill your insurance, WE ARE NOT responsible to negotiate a settlement for a disputed claim. Billing your insurance does not necessarily ensure payment by the insurance company nor does it release the responsible party from its financial obligation to our office for any unpaid balance. In case of an insurance partial payment, the balance is due by YOU and we will send you a billing statement. Balances over 120 days due may be sent to a collection agency unless other arrangements have been made. A $50 fee may be assessed on accounts placed in collections. A $25 service fee will be charged for returned checks due to insufficient funds. We may also elect to discharge you from our practice should you fail to comply with our policy. Should you require a payment plan, our office manager will be glad to discuss your options with you.
Insurance Claims/Billing
Complete Care Medicine participates with most major insurance carriers. As a courtesy to our patients, we will file insurance claims for those insurances with which we participate. However, please note knowledge of your insurance contract and its limitations, co-pays and deductibles are not our responsibility. Any denials or adjustments made by your insurance company are ultimately your responsibility. If you fail to provide us with all the correct information, you financially responsible for the office visit charges.
Dr. Herrera is a primary care provider; therefore some insurance may require you to make us your PCP in order for us to treat you.
Insurance Policies & Forms
Our office will submit claims for insurance carriers with which we participate. At Complete Care Medicine, we are dedicated to offer QUALITY and often times beyond the standard medical care to our patients. To this end, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to know your particular insurance plan benefits.Comprehensive physicals, immunizations, certain laboratory tests, procedures and prescribed medications including nutritional and herbal supplements may not be covered. Prior authorizations may be completed at the discretion of our providers. We therefore cannot guarantee that all services and therapies we provide or recommend are covered by your insurance. We also cannot just change CODES in order to modify insurance coverage as it is illegal and fraudulent. We strongly encourage you to contact your insurance carrier ahead of time and verify appropriate coverage.
We also require proof of current insurance at check-in for every visit. Is it essential that you provide all the necessary information about you insurance, both primary and secondary. Since changes in insurance coverage are frequent, it is our policy to obtain a copy of your card(s) for applicable insurance. Please be prepared to present your card(s) at each visit. In case of a new policy, a copy of the enrollment form specifying insurance company name, phone number, employer and his/her phone number, insured employee name, date of birth and social security number will be required.
Prescriptions
Please have your pharmacy fax your refill request to our secure office fax line at (480) 457-8885. In most cases, expired prescriptions can also be refilled in this manner, provided you are up to date on required exams and laboratory testing. We do recommend routine follow-up visits at least every 6 months, depending on your medical needs. Refills will there be provided in general for up to 6 months, exceptions may include oral contraceptives and other long-term medications, which may be refilled for up to 1 year, at which time our providers may prefer to see you. Refills of prescriptions medications that fall under the general category of CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES such as narcotics and certain mood-altering ages will require MONTHLY visits. Please be aware that refills may take up to 72 HOURS to process, so please plan accordingly. Your refill request may be denied should you fail to comply with our policy.
In an effort to ensure that there are no adverse interactions between medications we request that you allow us to download any electronic records of your medications, by signing this form you authorize Complete Care Medicine to access these medication histories.
Pain Medications
Here at Complete Care Medicine, we recognize chronic pain is real and at times debilitating. We also realize that the medications that are used to treat chronic pain have a high potential for abuse and addiction. Furthermore, we believe that special training and experience is required to properly control chronic pain without causing addiction. For that reason, we do not treat chronic pain but prefer to refer our patients with chronic pain to a pain management specialist. Although we may use short term narcotics to treat acute, new onset pain, we will not write long term or certain types of narcotics. If you are under the care of a pain management specialist and wish to change specialists, we suggest that you obtain your monthly refill and then allow us to assist you to find a new specialist before your medication(s) run out.
FMLA & Disability Forms
In general, we do not complete or perform Long-Term Disability Forms & Evaluations. We do require that FMLA Forms & Short-Term Disability Forms be complete IN PERSON during our regular office hours, at which time our providers may refer you to appropriate specialists for further evaluation and management.
Medical Records & Forms
All requests for medical records must be on a HIPPA approved form, which must be properly and completely filled out and signed by the patient or legal guardian. Improperly filled out forms may delay your request. Please allow at least 5 BUSINESS DAYS for processing.
Medical records released to a new provider, specialist or school for continuity of care, as a courtesy to the patient, will be forward at no charge.
Medical records released to the patient, some insurance companies, law firm or miscellaneous requests are subject to copying fees.
In the event that this practice ceases to operate or is sold and medical records do not remain in the same physical location, you will be notified at least 30 days prior and instructed on how to obtain your records and where those records will be maintained.
Referrals
When your provider suggests a specialist evaluation or diagnostic testing that requires a referral, we will make every effort to provide this for you as soon as possible. Some referrals require insurance preauthorization and cannot be processed immediately. Insurance guidelines prohibit us from backdating referrals. We require three business days for the processing of routine referrals.
Labs/Testing/Imaging
For all normal labs or studies requiring no further workup or referral you will be notified of the results by our office staff over the phone. If the results are abnormal, you will be required to be seen and results will be given to you in person. We realize your time is valuable, however, as abnormal results usually require additional testing or planning, we prefer to deliver them in person.
After Hours
When an EMERGENCY arises, and you need to get in touch with our on-call service, you may call our office at 480-457-8800. You will be directed to our on-call service personnel, who will then provide you with appropriate instructions. As a reminder, this option should only be used in emergencies. Please be aware that as a general rule we DO NOT call-in antibiotics or medication refills, and underNO CIRCUMSTANCES will narcotics be called to the pharmacy.
Prescription refills, appointment scheduling, and long term illnesses should be handled during routine office hours.