How much time will I have with the doctor during my office visit if I am using insurance?
Because of the nature of our practice the physician often creates customized programs and protocols at each visit which at times can take up to an hour or more to create. While our primary focus is always on providing you with the best care possible, we want to be transparent about the time constraints we face while following insurance billing limits on time so that we can continue to provide functional and integrative care for insured patients. Many functional and integrative practices do not accept insurance because of these time restrictions. Our practice's current stance is that we want to continue to accept insurance so that we may serve the largest amount of patients possible with a functional and integrative care model however we do need to make you aware of these visit time constraints when using insurance.
Insurance companies have specific guidelines that dictate the amount of time we can allocate to each appointment. These guidelines are inclusive of the time that the physician spends before your appointment reviewing your chart and the time required after your appointment to complete your visit documentation, place your orders and create any protocols that you may need. This can shorten the amount of face to face time with physician during your appointment.
Since our goal is to provide functional and integrative care to as many women as possible by continuing to take insurance we are now enforcing the time guidelines for appointments. We want to give you a time estimate breakdown for each component of the visit outside of your face to face time with the doctor so that you may know what to expect on the day of your appointment. During your visit you will see a timer that reflects the estimate of time that the doctor will be able to spend with you face to face based on the following:.
Established Patients Insured Visit Time Allowance
40 minutes per visit (estimate 5-15 minutes prep and 15-20+ minutes for documentation, orders and protocol development)
New Patient Visit Insured Visit Time Allowance
60 minutes per visit (estimate 10-15 minutes visit prep and 20-25+ minutes for documentation, orders and protocol development)
If, at any point, you feel that you need more time to discuss your health or treatment plan, please don't hesitate to let us know. We'll do our best to accommodate your needs within the constraints of insurance billing but please be advised that you may have to schedule another visit. If you find that you are consistently needing more face to face time with the physician you can consider converting to self-pay patient.
We want you to know that your health and well-being remain our top priorities. We understand that discussing your health concerns and treatment options can take time, and we are committed to making the most of the time we have together during your visit.
Thank you for your understanding, and please know that we are dedicated to providing you with the highest level of care possible.