Riverside Medical, S.C. > Office Policies

Office Policies

Appointments Emergencies and After-Hour Calls Prescription Requests
Our Financial Policy Payments Medical Forms

Appointments
To schedule an appointment, please call our office as far in advance as possible, stop by the reception desk following your office visit, or visit the Appointment Request Form. If there is a specific provider you wish to schedule with, be aware that you may need to do so several weeks in advance, depending on availability.

We make every effort to have patients seen by their primary physician each visit. However, it may be necessary to see one of your doctor's associates or physician assistant on same day or emergency appointments.

Because some examinations, such as a comprehensive physical or pre-operative evaluation, take longer than others, the reception staff will ask about the nature of your visit when you phone.

We recognize that everyone's time is valuable, so we make every effort to maintain the scheduled appointment times, but urgent situations sometimes disrupt the schedule. We ask for your understanding and patience during these delays. We will make every effort to keep your waiting time to a minimum.

If you are unable to keep your appointment, please call. Late arrival may necessitate rescheduling your appointment. If a patient fails to keep an appointment for a physical or pre-operative evaluation and does not call within 24 hours to cancel, a $50.00 fee will be applied. A $25.00 charge will be applied to general appointments that are not cancelled.
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Emergencies and After-Hours Calls
When the office is closed, telephone calls will be relayed to our answering service. You can reach us for urgent problems at 847-577-9300 regardless of the hour. The answering service will ask your name, telephone number, and the reason for your call. This information will be relayed to the doctor on call. For routine questions and refill requests, we ask that you please call the office on the next business day.
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Prescription Requests
Riverside Medical, S.C. issues non-emergency prescriptions during weekday office hours only. To submit a request, you will need to tell us the name, dose, quantity, and route (oral or by inhaler, for example) of the medication; when you take it; and how many refills you usually receive. If our office will submit the prescription to your pharmacy, you will need to tell us the name and telephone number of your pharmacy. If you prefer, you can pick up your prescription at the office. Use the Prescription Request Form to submit a prescription request at any time. Unless you hear from us, a request received by Riverside Medical, S.C. before noon will be called in or ready to be picked up at 6 p.m. the following business day. We suggest you call your pharmacy before leaving to make sure that your prescription is ready.
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Our Financial Policy
You will be asked to provide your insurance card(s) at every visit. This is to ensure that the information we have is correct, and that your plan is current and one in which we participate. Out of date cards with incorrect information or the wrong insurance cards can cause unnecessary delays in the payment of your claim.

Frequently, small changes (for example, a group number change or plan change) may not be considered significant by patients, but insurers will not process claims that are not 100% accurate.

All office co-pays are to be paid at the time of service. This is an insurance company policy. If the co-pay is not paid at the time of service, you will be assessed a $5.00 late fee. We accept checks or credit cards, but cannot take cash.

We will submit insurance claims for our patients. However, the agreement of the insurace carrier to pay for medical care is a contract between you and the carrier. You should direct any questions and/or complaints regarding coverage to your insurance carrier, your employer (if in a group plan), or to your agent.

Insurances vary in their coverage, and it is the patient's responsibility to understand his/her medical benefits. There may be limitations and exclusions to coverage. The patient portion is set by the insurance company. Patients are responsible for any co-insurances, deductibles, and any other non-covered billable services.

We do not bill third parties. It is the responsibility of the patient to satisfy any outstanding balances here. We will provide statements as proof of payment for patients to pursue reimbursement from the third party payor.
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Payments
Balances are due within 30 days of when the bill is issued. Bills will be issued after the insurance carrier pays its portion of the bill. If the balance remains unpaid after 30 days, a late charge of 5% per month is applied to the account. We accept checks and credit cards. In addition to paying through the mail, credit card information may also be called to the billing office during business hours at 847-577-0187.
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Medical Forms and Patient-Requested Letters
Charges to complete medical forms (driver's license, assisted living, insurance, etc.) and patient-requested letters are not covered by insurance and are therefore the responsibility of the patient. Fees vary according to the length and complexity of the form or patient-requested letter and are determined by the physician. [Back to Top]