When you are a new patient, your
visit will be longer than most due to the time it takes to adequately record
your health history, medications, and any other information required to treat
you. Also, there is a good chance we
will be performing additional testing on you since this is your first visit
with us. You should allow at least 3 hours for your
visit, maybe longer, depending upon the treatment required for your specific
condition.
Every time you have an appointment
to see Dr. Benedett, a technician will evaluate your vision, intraocular
pressure, and will put dilating drops in your eyes. After your pupils have dilated sufficiently,
you will be examined by Dr. Benedett. Dilating drops frequently blur vision for
a length of time which varies for each person and may make bright lights uncomfortable.
For your safety and the safety of
others, we always recommend bringing a driver and sunglasses to your appointments.
What to bring to your appointment
In order to expedite the new patient check-in process, we ask you to print out all of the required new
patient registration forms, complete these forms and bring them with you to your first appointment (The forms are available on this
website under the PATIENT FORMS tab.)
Health and Medications Form
This
form includes:
- Any
health history summary available
- List
of current medications including eye drops
- List
of drug allergies and the reactions you have from them
- Names,
addresses and phone of any other physicians you are seeing
- Name,
address, and phone of the pharmacy you use
Your prescription eyeglasses or
contact lens power
Medical insurance cards
Driver’s license
Sunglasses
A driver
The length
of your visit
We try to make sure that you are
seen on time. However, because our practice often involves emergency patient
care, our appointment schedule can become delayed. Depending on the nature of
your problem and possible testing involved you may spend several hours at our
office. When you leave your appointment your eyes will be dilated so we
recommend that you have a driver with you.
Medicare
We participate in the Medicare program. This means that Medicare will pay
us directly for 80% of their allowable charge after you have satisfied your
annual deductible. If you have supplemental insurance, Medicare is billed for
the 20% balance. Otherwise, you will be responsible for the balance. You could
also be responsible for services not covered by Medicare. If treatment
recommendations are outside the Medicare coverage guidelines these will be
discussed prior to the service being rendered.
Private Insurance
We participate with most private insurances and many managed care plans.
If your insurance requires a referral from a PCP (Primary Care Physician) it is
your responsibility to insure that we receive that referral prior to the day of
your visit. We file insurance claims for our patients. However, deductible and
co-payments are collected at the time of service. Your insurance contract
defines of the extent of coverage. While we will assist you in filing our
claim, it is your responsibility to pay the charge in full.
Payment Plans
While your health is our first priority, we are sensitive to the cost of
health care and will do our best to deliver your care in the most cost
effective manner possible. Thus, if you do not have insurance, we ask that you
make payment for office services at the time of your visit. If you are unable
to pay your balance in full, our accounts manager will work with you to come up
with a mutually agreeable and realistic payment plan.
