Policies, Insurance & Fees

• Patient Financial Policy
• Insurances
• Methods of Payment
• CareCredit® Payment Plans
• Prenatal Financial Arrangements
• Fees
• General Consent for Medical Care
• Financial Liability of Minor

Patient Financial Policy

Patient agrees to be responsible for all portions of services at the time services are provided by our office. Patients are required to present a valid insurance card at initial visit; at least annually there after and anytime the insurance changes during the interim of patient care. Patient is responsible for paying their bill in full at the time of service unless prior arrangements have been made or a verifiable insurance is presented. If insurance verified then only the deductible, co-insurance and co-pays have to be paid at the time of service.

Insurances:

Commercial Insurance Carriers: We bill most insurance carriers for you if proper verification is provided to us. Any outstanding balances, co-payments and deductibles are due at the time of service. On insurance carriers that we are not contracted with, it is the patient’s responsibility to research why an insurance carrier may not have paid or way it may have paid less than anticipated for care. If any insurance carrier has not paid within 45 days of billing, fees are due and payable in full from the patient. Any outstanding balances and deductibles are due prior to the next appointments or within 10 days of the first statement after determined to be patient responsibility by the insurance. We are contracted with the insurances through our local PHO and Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield.

The Center for Women contracts with the same insurances as Baxter Regional Medical Center Physician Hospital Organization contracts with. There are a few other insurances we contract with outside of the PHO.

Click here for a list of insurances The Center for Women contracts with >>

Medicare: Our office is a Medicare participating provider and we will bill Medicare for the patient. We will bill secondary insurances claims. Any outstanding balances and deductibles are due prior to the next appointments or within 10 days of the first statement after determined to be patient responsibility by the insurance. Any co-insurance, deductible and non-covered service will be due as service is rendered.

Medicaid: Our office is a Medicaid participating provider through Arkansas and Missouri. We will bill Medicaid for the patient. Any outstanding balances, co-payments and deductibles are due prior to the next appointment or within 10 days of the first statement after determined to be patient responsibility by the insurance.

Methods of Payment:

Our office accepts the following payment methods: Cash, Personal Check, Credit Cards, Care Credit and Patient Financing options.

CareCredit® Payment Plans:
The Center for Women participates in CareCredit, a credit program for healthcare costs not covered by the patient’s insurance. It offers no-interest monthly payment plans for up to 18 months on procedures costing $300 or more. There is no annual fee. For additional details, click here.

For returned checks we assess a $25.00 NSF charge, expect repayment within 1 week of being returned to our office. If not repaid within the 1 week, the NSF check will be reported to the local hot check collection office.

If accounts are not paid according to terms, the patient understands that our office reports to an outside collection agency. In the event that your account is turned over for collections patient agrees to pay all additional fees accessed in the collection of the debt. These fees include collection agency fees and attorney fees. For accounts turned over to debt collectors for collection, risk the possibility of not being able to return to the office for patient care.

Prenatal Financial Arrangements:

The financial expectations will be discuss about your prenatal care by our billing department on your first visit. Your insurance, if you have insurance, will be verified. A financial agreement will be completed showing the expected charges, what insurance is expected to pay on those charges and what the patient’s expected portion will be. The patient’s expected portion will be set up on payments to be paid by the 30th week of pregnancy. If there is no insurance, the expected charges will be set up on monthly payments for the entire amount to be paid by the 30th week.

The charges that are expected in a pregnancy would be the vaginal delivery fee with expected prenatal visits, three ultrasounds as needed, doctor induced anesthesia charges and the lab as listed in our prenatal guide. What are not included in these fees would be any NSTs (fetal stress test), any additional labs or ultrasounds and/or C-section fees. If these occur, then additional fees will be charged to the patient account.

Fees

The Center for Women fees are set by the board based on contracted insurance fee schedule(s). For all insurances that we are contracted with: the usual, customary and reasonable adjustments will be applied according to the contract of that particular insurance. Please review a list of the contracted insurances to determine if your insurance is one that we are contracted with.

General Consent for Medical Care

Medical consent for care can be authorized and empowered to consent, either orally or otherwise, to any surgical or medical treatment or procedure not prohibited by law which may be suggested, recommended, prescribed, or directed by a licensed physician. Any of the following can authorize such permissions:

• Any adult, for himself or herself;
   
• Any parent, whether an adult or a minor, for his or her minor child or for his or her adult child of unsound mind whether the child is of the parent’s blood, an adopted child, a stepchild, or a foster child. However, the father of an illegitimate child cannot consent for the child solely on the basis of parenthood;
   
• Any married person, whether an adult or a minor, for himself or herself.
   
• Any female, regardless of age or marital status, for herself when given in connection with pregnancy or childbirth, except the unnatural interruption of a pregnancy;
   
• Any person standing in loco parentis, whether formally serving or not, and any guardian, conservator, or custodian, for his or her ward or other charge under disability;
   
• Any emancipated minor, for himself or herself (proof of emancipation required);
   
• Any unemancipated minor of sufficient intelligence to understand and appreciate the consequences of the proposed surgical or medical treatment or procedures, for himself or herself;
   
• Any adult, for his or her minor sibling or his or her adult sibling of unsound mind;
   
• During the absence of a parent so authorized and empowered, any maternal grandparent and, if the father is so authorized and empowered, any paternal grandparent, for his or her minor grandchild or for his or her adult grandchild of unsound mind;
   
• Any married person, for a spouse of unsound mind;
   
• Any adult child, for his or her mother or father of unsound mind; and
   
• Any minor incarcerated in the Department of Correction or the Department of Community Correction, for himself or herself.

These guidelines are followed and set according to Arkansas
Code 20-9-602 for Consent generally.

Financial Liability of Minor

• Unless the parental relationship is terminated by the court (requiring a Court Order as proof of emancipation of juvenile), the parents are liable for the cost of necessary medical services rendered to their minor child.
   
• Parental liability is not affected by a Divorce or the language of the Divorce Decree, even if that decree provides that one parent or the other is solely liable for a minor’s medical debts.
   
• Step-parents are not liable for medical services rendered to their step-children without a separate contract.
   
• Neither marriage nor childbirth changes a minor’s status as a minor. Note, however, that minor parents are liable for care rendered to their children.
   
• Age of majority in Arkansas is 18 years of age. The general rule is minors under a legal disability are not legally competent to contract. Necessaries are an exception – minors can be held liable for a contract for the necessities of life rendered to the minor. Medical bills are almost always considered necessaries of life.
   
• Minors can sign for services if they are capable of understanding the nature of injury/illness and the treatment required.