Clinic Financial and Appointment Policies

Our priority at Advancements in Allergy and Asthma Care, Ltd. is to provide all patients with the highest quality of medical care and to ensure patients have an excellent experience at each visit. Each patient is considered to be part of our family and our medical providers, clinical, and support staff are eager to serve your medical needs. To ensure we are able to maintain our high standards for all patients, our clinic has implemented the following financial and appointment policies. 

Patient Administrative Fee*

For over 35 years, our clinic has offered high quality allergy and asthma medical services through an independent private practice setting. We have become a destination practice for many families seeking allergy and asthma services, and we have continued to offer a broad range of testing and treatments to both adult and pediatric patients in our communities. We have continued to innovate and expand our services to offer cutting-edge treatment options like oral immunotherapy (“OIT”) and sublingual immunotherapy (“SLIT”). Our team enjoys helping patients manage their health and it is always our goal to safely administer services to our patients while helping promote a more participatory and happy life for your families. Due to the wide variety of resources required to offer our services safely and efficiently, including significant administrative and other costs that are not reimbursed by insurance companies or the government, we have implemented an administrative fee for all patients. The administrative fee includes all non-covered services (services that are not billable to insurance) that support the patient care. We will continue to bill your health insurance for covered services, such as any scheduled appointments, provider consultations, treatments and testing services.

Administrative Fee: An annual charge (based on a calendar year) per patient to cover services that are not paid by your insurance. For 2024, the Administrative Fee is $75. The Administrative Fee is invoiced on the patient's account and is due upon receipt.
Patient Administrative Fee FAQs and helpful information:
  • Why is there an administrative fee?  Insurers have reduced reimbursements for clinic services while inflation and the costs to supply patient services have significantly increased.  Insurers have also increasingly forced clinics to engage in more non-reimbursable work to supply patient care.
  • What does the administrative fee cover?  The administrative fee partially covers the clinic work that is not billed to insurance, such as patient communications (emails, phone calls, texts which are not paid by insurance), insurance denials (which force us to spend more time fighting for you to receive the appropriate care and reimbursed medical services that you deserve), medical records requests, prescription refill requests, access to our nurse triage team, regulatory compliance, software costs, and many other functions that support your care.
  • Do you still accept health insurance for services? Yes, we will continue to accept most major insurance plans.
  • When is the administrative fee due? The administrative fee is billed annually (based on the calendar year) and will appear on your patient invoice so long as you remain a patient of the clinic. 
  • Can I use my FSA/HSA? Yes, subject to your plan’s rules, you may use your flexible spending account and/or health savings account to pay the administrative fee.
  • What other forms of payment are accepted? We accept payment via credit card, check, money order, or cash. Online payments are preferred.

Existing Patient Outstanding Balance Policy

Existing patients may schedule follow-up appointments with our clinic provided the patient’s account is current and in good standing. Patients with balances over 30 days old must pay their balances in full or otherwise receive an exception from the Office Manager to schedule any additional appointments. Limited exceptions may be provided in the Office Manager’s discretion but will only be provided if there is good reason (e.g. insurance company claim is delayed through no fault of the patient). Patients with outstanding balances may be requested to make full payment prior to being seen for their appointment. Payment arrangements are available and can be discussed with the Office Manager.  

Immunotherapy (Allergy Shots) Administrative Fee

For years our subcutaneous immunotherapy (allergy shots) programs, have been tremendously successful at helping patients achieve tolerance to allergens through our highly individualized immunotherapy (“IT”) treatment offerings. Our allergy shots can be helpful to control seasonal allergies, indoor allergies, insect sting reactions, and asthma. Our team enjoys helping patients manage their allergies and it is always our goal to safely administer our IT services while helping promote a more participatory and happy life for your families. Due to the wide variety of resources required to safely and efficiently offer our IT services, including administrative and other costs not directly associated with the medical care provided through IT, we have implemented an administrative fee for all IT patients. The administrative fee includes all non-covered services (non-covered services are not billable to insurance) that support the program. We will continue to bill your health insurance for covered services, such as allergy extracts, allergy shot injections, and any scheduled appointments, provider consultations, and testing.

Immunotherapy Administrative Fees:
$100 new allergy shot and bee venom programs
$50 refill allergy shot and bee venom programs
$150 for a biologic shot program

​See Immunotherapy Consent Form for more information. 

No Show and Cancellation Policy*

Any patient who fails to show or cancels/reschedules an appointment and has not contacted our clinic with at least 24 business hours notice is considered a “No Show” and is charged a $75.00 fee. A No Show is a patient who misses an appointment without canceling or rescheduling with sufficient notice to the client. This fee is not covered by insurance and is the patient’s sole responsibility.
 
While we understand there are unforeseen circumstances that may cause a no-show, we appreciate as much advance notice as possible. Limited exceptions will be provided at the sole discretion of the clinic manager. Patients who fail to pay the no-show fee or no-show two times within any 24 month period will not be allowed to schedule future appointments until reviewed and discussed with the clinic manager. Advancements in Allergy and Asthma Care, Ltd. reserves the right to terminate patients from care when a patient misses scheduled appointments without providing 24-hour notice.
 
As a courtesy, patients receive automated appointment reminders via text message or email. If you do not receive a reminder notification, the No Show and Cancellation policy will remain in effect.

Arrival Time and Late Arrivals to Appointments

Please arrive on time to your scheduled appointment. We understand that our patients have very busy schedules, and we will try to accommodate anyone that arrives late to their appointment; however, if you arrive ten or more minutes late, we will potentially need to reschedule your appointment to another day in order to avoid scheduling delays for our other patients and staff. 
*Federal/state laws prohibit these fees being charged to Medicare and Medicaid patients; however, an unexcused no-show may still result in you being terminated as a patient from our clinic.
Page last updated February 2024