Policies

Our billing office is in-house. We have a dedicated medical billing staff that strives to ensure timely filing of charges with your insurance company. We accept most insurances including Medicare, Tricare, and Medicaid. We file your insurance as a courtesy. We ask that copayment be made at the time of service. We have a very flexible payment plan in the event that you have a remaining balance after insurance has been filed.

Self pay or non-insured patients are welcomed with open arms at our clinic. We ask that self pay patients make a good faith payment of $100.00 at the date of the appointment. We offer our services for a reduced rate for all of our self pay patients. We are able to offer a very reasonable payment agreement for any remaining balance. Our Medical Billing Team is here for you, please feel free to call and discuss any questions or concerns that you may have.

When skin biopsies are taken, a Pathologist from your designated lab reviews the specimen under a microscope and sends the report to this office. Sometimes, you may receive a bill from the laboratory for their services and you are responsible for payment directly to the laboratory. These fees are often covered, at least in part, by your insurance company.

We understand that cancellations can’t always be avoided.In the event that you must reschedule your appointment,we ask that you give a 24 hour notice for appointment cancellations. Our clinic charges a $25.00 fee for “no show” appointments.

We are more than happy to provide your medical records to you.

The federal medical privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act commonly known as HIPAA, provides a patient the right to obtain an electronic copy of their medical record in the patient’s preferred form and format if our practice can technically and without risk to complete the data exchange. Some data is exempt from this policy. Our goal at Georgia Skin & Cancer Clinic is to ensure that patients have real time access to their medical health information. When you schedule with our practice you receive a link to set up an account with Complete.MD.  You can easily communicate electronic medical health information requests through this platform in order to obtain the following data.
·         consultation notes
·         discharge summary notes
·         history & physical
·         imaging narratives
·         laboratory report narratives (your lab will allow you real time access)
·         pathology report narratives
·         procedure notes
·         progress notes
Our goal is to make these requests available to you in a timely manner without burden. You may communicate requests for information directly through the Complete.MD APP. You will receive notifications through the app in reference to pathology status. The following exceptions preventing harm, health IT performance, content manner, and reasonable fees will be evaluated to protect your privacy and preventing information blocking.  If you need additional assistance, please contact our central office directly 912-925-0067 or 1-800-599-0067 or communicate a message through the Complete.MD App. 

We utilize Complete.MD for patient registration.The Complete.MD website also allows for pre-registration before you arrive at the office, giving you all the time you need to complete basic paperwork electronically before arriving at our office. When you schedule an appointment you will be asked for your email information , in order to be sent a secure link to complete your required patient forms.You will receive a temporary password that you reset at the time of your account registration. Your forms will be registered directly into our computer system, there is no need to print the forms prior to your visit. We are here to help you, do not hesitate to contact us. If you need assistance with your form completion, no worry, you can contact our office and one of our patient services representative will be more than happy to assist you. Additionally, we have secure computers at each of our offices that you can utilize for form completion.Our goal is to remove the hassle of  bulky clip boards and duplicate information in the waiting room environment for our patients while better protecting your privacy. Complete.MD is a safe and secure way for you to provide Georgia Skin & Cancer Clinic with all of the necessary information to provide excellent care to you.

We make scheduling appointments easy. You are in the Complete.MD Network! Lets get Connected …The Connect patient application allows the patient to take control of his or her schedule. Historically, appointments were assigned at times that might not benefit the patient’s work, school and outside schedules. The Complete.MD Connect application puts the power of scheduling in the patients hands, displaying available options on multiple days and times and it is completely free. Download the APP today and begin scheduling and tracking your appointments.

At Georgia Skin & Cancer Clinic we gladly accept Care Credit.It helps you pay for out-of-pocket expenses not covered by medical insurance by extending special financing options that you may not always be able to get when using your Visa or MasterCard. Care Credit offers Shorter term No Interest if Paid in Full within 6, 12, 18, or 24 months* promotional financing options are available on purchases of $200 or more. No interest is charged on the promotional balance if you make the minimum monthly payments and pay the full amount due by the end of the promotional period. If you do not, interest is charged from the original purchase date. For more information or to apply visit: https://www.carecredit.com/

When the information you need involves your health, you need it as soon as possible. Now you can take your health information with you, on the new Pathology Tracker Mobile App. Life saving information could always reach you at home but now it can be accessed anywhere you have an internet connection. Join us today as we break new ground in the world of technology, health, and communication. Patients can download mobile applications (from the Apple and Google app stores) that enable tracking of their specimen from the time it leaves the exam room until their tissue is signed out by a pathologist and follows it all the way through the process when their provider is ready to read them their test results.

If you request a skin exam and a biopsy is recommended, we typically provide this service on the same day. We make every effort to ensure that you do not have to schedule an additional appointment for biopsy. If indeed a biopsy is performed , we will utilize the services of your designated preferred lab to obtain pathology results. Results may take two weeks to be reported, one of our dedicated pathology coordinators will call with results and can schedule additional treatment(if required).

We combine our medical expertise with a care plan that fits your needs. Some prescriptions may require blood work and prior authorizations.  If blood work is needed you will be issued a lab order to take to an outside lab of your choice. The lab will forward your blood work results to our office and we will contact you within 1 business day from the time of receipt of lab results.  It may take 3 days for the lab to send the results. If you do not hear from us within a week of having bloodwork performed, call us and let us know as we have no way of knowing when or which lab that you utilized.

Many times your insurance carrier will require a prior authorization for treatments.Please , know that our office has no way of knowing if your insurance carrier will cover or deny benefits. Unfortunately, We have little control over this process as your insurance plan sets the criteria. We have team members that are dedicated to ensuring that you receive the requested treatment. Many times this involves completing  and faxing forms, lengthy phone calls and emails. Please allow 7-10 days for prior authorizations , we make every effort to streamline this process to ensure the best outcome. Additional time may be required depending on your insurance companies policy or if you are declined and go into an appeals process.You may be asked to schedule a nurses visit to include you in this process and to obtain additional information to ensure you receive the desired treatment. We understand that this process can be frustrating but know that we are here for you , and will take every measure to ensure that you receive the prescribed treatment.

If you need a refill on a prescription previously given by office, we ask that you contact your pharmacy directly and they will contact us with the refill request. This process ensures that you request will be handled promptly. Our medical support team will issue the request to the doctor/ healthcare provider for authorization and will send the prescription back to the pharmacy. Please allow 48 hours for refills.

We have a team of medical support professionals that are dedicated to taking patient calls Monday through Thursday 8:00am – 5:00pm and Friday 8:00am- 4:00pm. The phone support team receive many calls in a day’s time so calls are prioritized. If your call is not of an urgent nature, please allow 24 hours for a return call. You may be asked to leave a message for the medical support team, we strive to return these calls as soon as possible. Our medical call support team of nurses and medical assistants are located at our Savannah home office and can be reached at 1-800-599-0067, our team will have access to your healthcare provider and medical records regardless of which clinic you are routinely seen in.

In the event of a non -life threatening emergency  during normal business hours , please call our main  office (1-800-599-0067) and notify us of the emergency .  For non-life threatening emergencies after hours please contact Dr. Sidney Smith via his mobile number (912) 661-2434.  For critical life threatening  emergencies , please call 911 or report to the emergency room.