A local doctor called me this week, asking about my Self-Pay Labs for people who aren’t my patients. He was intrigued.
He was thrilled that he could order labs without worrying about ICD10 codes or whether the patient’s insurance would pay. Like the rest of us, he has been frustrated with trying to help patients get cost-effective health care. Often insurance refuses to pay for useful labs. Or patients receive huge bills for blood tests.
Also, insurance dictates how often labs can be done, or they refuse payment. Hemoglobin A1C, which shows how the sugar has been for 3 months, can’t be sooner than every 3 months. And PSA (Prostate cancer screening) can’t be before a year. Screening for Vitamin D deficiency is usually not paid (how do you know you’re deficient if you don’t test?), yet once you have a diagnosis of vitamin D deficiency, Vitamin D blood tests are usually paid. Each insurance has its own regulations. For some things, “screening” diagnoses are best. For others, we need to add a code for a medical diagnosis. It’s a perplexing maze trying to figure all that out, among trying to care for the patient.
Some patients go to screening days offered locally. The test choices might be limited, but the prices are good.
At Pine Creek Family Medicine, patients don’t have to wait for special days. And their doctors don’t have to worry about whether insurance will pay. We have blood draws available every week. People get an order from their doctor, contact us to schedule, and have their blood drawn in a prompt friendly atmosphere. Results are sent to their ordering provider. We love being able to offer this service to patients.
Our informative order form is available at www.PineCreekFamMed.com/services at the first link on the page.