Slocum Center is dedicated to helping you restore your good health
Slocum works very hard to manage the costs you pay for our services, but we are keenly aware that high medical costs throughout the medical community can affect you and your family. We know that many of our patients may find it difficult to meet their medical expenses. To help you manage your healthcare budget, we have developed a number of options for your convenience.
Our Billing Procedures
If you have health insurance, we generally bill your insurer on your behalf. If your health insurance plan requires a co-payment, we ask you to pay this fee at the time of service.
Although you remain responsible for ensuring that your bill is fully paid, many insurers will pay us directly for their portion. This takes approximately 30 to 60 days. If we are participating providers with your insurer, a discount or “allowance” may be deducted from our regular fee. These types of allowances are not available if we do not contract with your insurer. Please refer to our current listing of participating insurers.
Extended Payment Options
We realize that many of our patients may want to spread payments out over a longer period for affordability. Upon request, we will extend the billing period for up to 90 days without interest expense.
Financial Hardship
There are times patients find themselves with more medical bills than they can manage, even with the availability of credit options. We encourage our patients who are experiencing financial hardship to contact our business services department.
How We Establish Our Fees
Patients frequently ask how we determine our fees.
Our professional fees have been developed using fee schedules published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS, a federal agency, has established a complex system that sets “relative value units” for each service we provide. These so-called “RV Units” are multiplied by a conversion factor to establish the price of our services.
Over the past five years, changes in insurance reimbursement to physicians have required a significant shift of pricing for our services, resulting in a decrease in the cost of our surgical procedures and an increase in our office visit fees.
For Further Information
Please contact our billing department with any questions about these policies or about your bill. We can be reached at (541) 868-0828. To pay with a SmartHealth PayCard, please use the button below.