Office Hours
Medical Credentials
Answering Service
Patient Registration Form
Credit Policies
Billing
Insurance
HMOs & Managed Care

Medicare
Bloopers, Clinkers & Foul Ups
Appointments
Scheduling Delays
Medical Records
Telephone Calls
Prescription Refills

Any change in our office hours will be posted on our office entrance, or may be obtained from our 24-hour answering service at 267-7543.

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MEDICAL CREDENTIALS
Dr. Maeyens is a Board Certified Dermatologist which means he is a recognized specialist in skin diseases and tumors.He received his medical training from the University of Tennessee Medical Units, the Medical College of Virginia and at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina with a year of cancer research after his residency. In addition, Dr. Maeyens has received Special Certification in Dermatopathology (microscopic identification of disease) as well as additional training in infectious disease. All of his Universities are fully accredited, and many of his instructors are international leaders in the field of Dermatology.

Dr. Maeyens continues to update his training and refine his skills by scheduling at least a month each year to attend nationally accredited medical seminars.

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ANSWERING SERVICE
We have a 24-hour automatic message service available for you at 267-7543. This will assure you that all of your messages are recorded, acted upon and noted in your chart. In an emergency, please call or go directly to the Bay Area Hospital Emergency Room; they will contact Dr. Maeyens directly, if needed.

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PATIENT REGISTRATION FORM
As a new patient with us, we ask that you complete an information sheet containing a number of questions which are a part of your medical record as well as identification, insurance billing, etc. We have tried to make the form as brief as possible and still cover a variety of situations which may not necessarily pertain to you specifically. When you report for your appointment, we will assist you as much as possible and tell you what information is required in your individual situation. We realize that when you are sick or uncomfortable, you may find this task unpleasant or tedious. However, most of the errors we encounter in our routine are a direct result of failure to obtain complete, detailed information initially and to mutually agree upon who is going to do what after the visit. Our goal is to handle every interaction between you and Dr. Maeyens perfectly, the first time; with your assistance, we will be able to consider the registration form a reliable source of instruction.

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CREDIT POLICIES
Regulation Z of the Federal Truth in Lending Act requires us to state that we operate on a payment at time of visit basis. Temporary billing arrangements are available to approved applications only and are subject to finance charge on past due balances of 90 days or more. The finance charge is 10 percent (10%) a year or 0.8333 percent per month.

Copayments are required on the day of the appointment. Please refer to the insurance section for further details.

Patients without any insurance should be prepared to make payment the same day of their appointment. Any exceptions must be approved by the Office Manager prior to the appointment with the first payment due the day of the visit. If circumstances make this policy a hardship, we will attempt to tailor payment terms to your specific needs. Please let us know at the front desk if we can be of any assistance.

We do not grant credit on any cosmetic procedures; for example, zyderm injections, tattoo removal, sodium chloride injections of superficial veins, laserbrasions, etc.

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BILLING
Each individual’s account is billed once each 3 to 4 weeks, and payment of the agreed upon amount is due within 10 days of receipt of the statement. To assure proper crediting to your account, please include the top portion of your statement with your payment or include your account number on your check or money order. The computer will itemize all new charges to your account since the last statement and will show all insurance codes needed for processing any insurance claims. Any unpaid balances from the previous month will be included in your balance forward amount. As the statement format is different from most medical billing programs, if you have difficulty understanding any part of your statement, please let us know.

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INSURANCE
We will file a claim for each visit where appropriate provided we have the correct identification BEFORE your visit with the Doctor, and your insurance carrier accepts our computer generated claim form. We do not file secondary insurance claims except where required by law, nor do we refile claims that have been previously filed correctly.

As of April, 2000, we are participating with Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Medicare, Oregon Health Plan , HMO Oregon, ODS, and PHA.

Prior authorization or pre-certification requirements contained in your insurance policy are restrictions the carrier places upon you, the policy holder, concerning payment as a part of their cost containment programs. Each of the 300-400 active insurance carriers in our files has different prior authorization policies that are subject to change at a moment's notice. You as the policy holder will receive information concerning these changes; however, WE MAY NOT. It will be your responsibility to request that prior authorization be obtained at the appropriate times. You will be expected to pay for services denied for failure to obtain prior authorization.

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HMO'S & MANAGED CARE
HMO's and Managed Care policies are based on controlling costs by relying upon a primary care physician to control patient access to specialists and other services. We MUST, therefore, have an authorization number or referral slip from your primary care physician (PCP) before your appointment. Authorization will not be given if the visit has already taken place. Furthermore, this authorization covers only the specific condition described on the referral form. If a new problem occurs during the course of therapy of an unrelated problem, you must have a separate referral from your primary care physician. We ask that you not hold us responsible for complying with restrictions you have agreed to in your policy.

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MEDICARE
Dr. Maeyens has been a participating physician with Medicare since January 1987. We accept what Medicare allows as the total amount billed to the patient. This means you will be expected to pay 20% of the charges and any deductible at the time of your appointment. You will also be expected to pay for those items not covered under the Medicare program such as routine foot care or removal of a benign, non-threatening skin lesion.. We are required by law to bill the patient for the entire 20% and deductible or risk penalty of $10,000.00 per item as well as procedural penalties.
Medicare Statements: Making your copayment on the day of your visit will eliminate most patient statements. Use your initial statement to file your secondary insurance if Medicare does not file your secondary insurance claim for you. We do not file secondary insurance claims. As the participation program with Medicare changes often and without notice, we are updating our policies frequently. Should there be anything unusual about your Medicare Claims or your billing, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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BLOOPERS, CLINKERS AND FOUL-UPS
We routinely process every visit according to the arrangements you establish on your first visit. Should circumstances or information change, we will be happy to make new arrangements, provided you tell us. Sometimes, however, patients assume we know problems exist or changes have occurred when in reality, we have no indication at all. If any problem arises, please tell us. We will do our best to make your experience with us as smooth and as convenient as possible.

Should there be an error on your account, the law requires you to contact us within 30 days in writing. However, please call or write us immediately while the circumstances are still easily reconstructed. We want the opportunity to correct that error immediately and learn from it so it will not happen again.

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APPOINTMENTS
We see our patients by appointment only, which are scheduled as precisely as possible. Even when your condition is critical, we ask that you call the office for a specific time so we may prevent you and others from waiting long periods of time. Therefore, for repeat offenders or extensive procedures, we reserve the right to charge the full consultation fee allowed by law for missed appointments. In essence, please personally cancel each and every appointment you do not plan to keep, regardless of the sequence in which they were made. We log each and every phone conversation concerning a patient's medical care or appointment. If an error occurs on our part, it is usually because we did not transfer information from this log to the appointment book or chart. To cancel an appointment anytime, day or night, call 267-7543.

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SCHEDULING DELAYS
It is difficult to judge the amount of time some problems will need, and any miscalculations will result in our running behind Schedule. Also it seems that no matter how hard we try to design a schedule that can handle any combination of events, there will always be a new and unusual combination that will delay our schedule. To further complicate matters, there is no way we can predict emergencies. We must deal with them immediately regardless of how it affects our schedule.

In 1999, we saw 87.4% of our patients within 20 minutes of their appointment times. However, statistically, the Doctor is most frequently late for the 4:00 PM and later appointments. We would suggest that you not make an appointment for this time if you find appointment delays stressful or would find a delay on our part inconvenient. If you call us, or when you check in for your appointment, we will try to tell you of any known delays. Be assured, however, we have a great deal of respect for your time as well as ours and have set as our goal for every patient to be seen within 20 minutes of the appointed time. We take any failure to meet this obligation very seriously and extend our apologies for any inconvenience, should this occur.

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MEDICAL RECORDS
The interchange between physician and patient is a private matter and your records will be kept confidential. No information will be released to outside parties without your written permission.

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TELEPHONE CALLS
All patients are encouraged to call with any questions they have pertaining to medical problems. However, it would be most unfair to our patients were the Doctor to interrupt examinations to answer every telephone call. As a result, the office staff has been trained to chart and answer many of your questions. They will also relay your information to Dr. Maeyens. He will provide additional instructions, should any be indicated.

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PRESCRIPTION REFILLS
Please call your pharmacy at least 72 hours in advance when a prescription needs to be filled. This will allow sufficient time for the pharmacy to contact us for authorization. Refills will not be made as a rule, on prescriptions one year old or older