Patient Information

  • Home
  • Patient Information

Basic patient information

INSURANCE INFORMATION

The dynamic of health insurance has changed drastically over the last several years.  Guidelines are becoming more and more strict regarding what is covered and what is not.  We are required to justify medical necessity for all treatment that is billed to insurance based on the chiropractic guidelines set forth by the individual insurance companies. In order for treatment to be billed to insurance as medically necessary, the treatment must meet certain criteria.  You must be under an active treatment plan with quantifiable, attainable goals for a certain number of treatments.  Re-exams or Outcome Assessments must be performed no more than every 30 days to continue care that is filed with insurance to show continual improvement. Although recommended for maintaining spinal health, the following are NOT considered medically necessary treatment for billing to insurance:
  • Supportive care which is long-term treatment for patients who have reached maximum therapeutic benefit but progressively deteriorate when there are periodic trials of treatment withdrawal.
  • Preventative/Maintenance care which is care that is typically long-term, but not necessary to treat a specific medical condition. Rather it is treatment that would prevent symptomatic deterioration or to promote health and prevent future problems.

In addition, there are some therapies and treatments that the doctors recommend in certain cases that may not be covered by an individual policy and can not be billed.  These vary from policy to policy, but may include any or all of the following:
  • Graston Technique®
  • Kinesio taping
  • Decompression therapy
  • Laser Therapy
  • Radial Pulse Wave therapy (RPW)
  • Intersegmental traction (Rollerbed)
  • Vibrational cervical traction
  • Ultrasound therapy
  • Dry hydrotherapy (Waterbed)
  • Extremity adjustments (that are not directly associated to a diagnosed spinal condition)

If all or some of your treatment is not expected to be paid by insurance, then you will be asked to pay for that treatment/service out of pocket. The good news is, we have a cash discount program through Patient Options that you can enroll in at no cost to significantly minimize your out of pocket costs.
We have copies of the chiropractic billing guidelines for the most common insurance available in our office.  If you have any questions, are not sure what category of treatment you fall into or need to schedule an exam, please contact our office at (502) 231-4003.

Patient-Doctor Agreements

The purpose of these agreements is to allow us to more completely serve you and to get the best results in the shortest amount of time. It is our experience that those who adhere to these get the best results.  These things help our office run much more effectively and efficiently. These policies allow the doctor and staff to allocate the necessary time to each patient.

Arrival and Check-In

When you arrive, please check in at the front desk. You may be asked to use our self check-in computer or fill out necessary forms for that visit. If needed, our Patient Care Representative or Patient Liaison will be happy to assist you with this. Please adhere to your scheduled appointment time and contact us if you will be late. We will do our best to accommodate you if it is within a reasonable time of your appointment. Otherwise you will be asked to reschedule. Please take care of any payment required and scheduling of your next appointment prior to being seen by the doctor. Changes to future appointments can be scheduled after treatment in the rare instance that there was a change to your treatment plan or if it was not done upon arrival to the office.

New Injuries

In the event you sustain a new injury/condition, please call our office to schedule an appointment.  You will need an exam or evaluation that will require an office visit before treatment.  This can not be done in the time we allot for a regular adjustment appointment as the documentation necessary is extensive.

Workshop

It is important that all patients attend our Your Spine/Your Health Workshop. This workshop explains how the body functions, how chiropractic works and most importantly, how you can expedite the healing process. Family and friends are invited to attend. There is no charge for this workshop.

Your Financial Arrangement

The doctor is here to focus on providing you with chiropractic care.  Therefore, any issues with the financial portion of your care should be discussed with our billing department.  If you find you cannot fulfill your financial obligation, please notify the billing department so that payment arrangements can be made.  Our policy is that patient accounts are paid timely.  Your insurance carrier is expected to pay their portion within 30 days of submission.  Our claims are submitted weekly.  If you do not receive an explanation of benefits from your insurance carrier within 45 days, you are responsible for contacting your carrier to attempt to get the claim paid.  If you should receive a check from your carrier, it should be brought to our office with the attached explanation of benefits.  There is a $25.00 return check fee for all checks returned for non-sufficient funds.  Should you have questions regarding billing issues, please contact our billing office Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday 9:00am – 5:00pm or Tuesday 9:00am – 1:00pm

Treatment Plan

You are scheduled for a certain number of treatments in a set amount of time to get the best result we both desire. Should you have to change your appointment, we would like for you to reschedule at a different time in the same day. If this is not possible, try to schedule an additional appointment within one week to make up the one missed.  Progress evaluations, and/or Outcome Assessments will be performed every 30 days during acute treatment to rate your progress and future treatment.  This is also a requirement for billing of insurance in order to satisfy medical necessity requirements.  The goal in our office is to help everyone we see “Get Back to Life” (normal living and work activities) as soon as possible.  It is of the utmost importance that you adhere to the scheduled plan of treatment as closely as possible.  If you need to make a permanent change to your plan of treatment, we ask that you schedule an office visit with the doctor to discuss the changes.  These changes may affect whether treatment is covered by insurance, as they may not continue to cover services when the patient does not comply to the doctor’s prescription of care.  The Patient Liaison, Patient Care Representative, or Chiropractic Assistant is not authorized to make changes to your care plan.

Absence / Excuse Notes

Off work/school slips are given from appointment to appointment.  If you are taken off work/school for a period of time, you must adhere to your prescribed treatment. Our office can not back date an off work note prior to the date of your appointment in our office.

Termination of services

Should you choose to discontinue services, any payment of outstanding balance is due within 30 days of your final statement.

Upsets

We are here to serve you. Please speak with the doctor about anything that could be upsetting you (i.e. long waits, confusion about treatment, etc.). We want your visits at our office to be pleasant and with the best results possible. As you can see, all these things can help our office run much more effective. Following the above policies allows the doctor and staff to allocate the necessary time to each patient.

Patient Rights

1. The right to confidentiality of medical records. 2. The right to be treated with consideration and respect. 3. The right to be informed in an understandable language about their health condition. 4. The right to participate in decisions affecting their health. 5. The right to be informed of the appropriate or medically necessary treatment options available for their health condition. 6. The right to voice any questions, concerns or complaints about any aspect of their health coverage, care/services provided. 7. The right to be informed about our facility and health coverage as it relates to services provided by our facility. 8. The right to be informed of policies by which the patient is to abide. 9. The right to privacy and confidentiality while receiving care. 10. The rights to not accept care or to terminate service at own discretion.

Patients have the following responsibilities:

1. The responsibility to supply accurate and complete medical history information. 2. The responsibility to advise staff if information is not understandable. 3. The responsibility to inform staff if the treatment plan does not meet the individual’s need or cannot be followed. 4. The responsibility to follow the agreed treatment plan. 5. The responsibility to contact provider when unable to keep appointments. 6. The responsibility for knowing the terms/benefit coverage for services provided and for fulfilling financial obligations as agreed.

Patient Rights

Know Your Rights… You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost Under the law, healthcare providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.
  • You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment, and hospital fees.
  • Make sure your health care provider gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least 1 business day before your medical service or item. You can also ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.
  •  If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.
  • Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.
For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises.

LEARN MORE

Chiropractic is incredibly Beneficial for everyone

Regular chiropractic adjustments allows the body maintain optimal health. It can also allow the body to health itself.

We check children as early as a few days after birth. The journey through the birth canal can be traumatic and cause torticollis in children. We will use only instruments to adjust them, which helps 95% of the time.

Kids these days are playing more contact sports at an earlier age without breaks throughout the year. Before playing contact or high impact sports we recommend getting a baseline xray of the spine for two reasons. The first is to check for any congenital anomalies that could cause permanent damage if the child sustained a sports injury. The second is if the child suffers a sports injury we will know what their spine looked like before the injury.

The years of bad posture like sitting for prolonged periods of time at a computer, repetitive movements and lifting have begun to take a toll on the body. We can correct the misalignments and teach you how to improve your posture so that your spine will last a lifetime. This is the time to make changes to the spine before permanent problems present

As we get older our joints and ligaments get tighter, which causes the bones not to move as well . When the bones aren’t moving they degenerate. We put the function back into your spine.

We love exercise but only when you are functioning at 80% or better. If you are strengthening too early , you are holding the bone in the pinched or stuck position.

We believe that there are times to take medications to provide pain relief, but realize that the pills are NOT going to fix the problem that is causing your pain. We take x-rays and pinpoint and show you the problem then we fix it.

When trauma occurs, bones get shifted. When steel frames bend on cars you absorb the impact too. Muscles and ligaments develop micro tear and then heal into scar tissue. Scar tissue is nasty, you do not want it. It causes the joints to move even less which will cause pain and degeneration. Let us give you soft tissue work through massage therapy and the Graston technique.

People are having more headaches from having their heads and cervical spine into the cell phones and computers. When that head is translated forward the weight of your head triples and causes strain to the occiput and posterior cervical muscle groups.

Back pain is something that most of us will deal with at some point in your life. Why? Because we are mechanical. We sit wrong, lift wrong, sleep wrong and have bad posture and over time causes your spine to shift, hit a nerve and causes pain.

From time to time we get a multitude of questions from our patients. We have taken the most asked and answered them here. If you have any concerns and the FAQs do not answer your questions, we invite you to call our office or to email us on our contact page.
FREquently ASKED QUESTIONS
You have questions? We have answers

Chiropractors are highly skilled in the hands-on art of spinal adjustment. An adjustment involves applying a specific force in a precise direction to a joint that is troublesome (for instance, it may be locked-up or not moving properly). The purpose of the adjustment is to help restore a more normal position or motion, often relieving pain. Using this technique, Chiropractors can treat any joint in your body…from your spine all the way out to your fingers and toes. Treatment is always within your comfort level and often can be quite relaxing.

Chiropractic treatment involves the manipulation of joints, with the goal of decreasing pain by improving movement and function within that joint. When a joint is adjusted (moved), there is a natural change in the internal pressure of that joint. This change results in the release of gas normally dissolved in the fluid which lubricates the joint. The release of this gas may produce a “crack” or “pop” sound similar to that produced when you open a can of soda.

Research continues to support the safety and efficacy of chiropractic treatment. Chiropractors do not use drugs or surgery, which have their place but may produce side effects and complications. The one chiropractic treatment with any significant risk of harm is adjustment of the cervical spine (neck manipulation). As each patient is unique, each treatment and each adjustment is unique as well. Your age, size and individual problem will determine which technique(s) will best put you on the road to feeling better.

 

As the body changes very rapidly during pregnancy, there is a large amount of stress placed on the musculoskeletal system. The joints in the body try to compensate for these changes, and as a result, they are often sore and stiff. Your Chiropractor has special techniques that will help make you comfortable during all the stages of pregnancy. Chiropractic is safe for both the mother and fetus and often helps to reduce those “typical pregnancy” aches and pains.

Before The Spine Center Chiropractors can lay their hands on you, they’ve first laid their eyes on hundreds of books. They’ve studied for at least seven years at university and post-graduate levels (at a Chiropractic college). Anatomy, physiology, pathology, neurology, biomechanics, X-rays and spinal adjusting techniques are just a handful of the topics they’ve studied. Before receiving their Doctor designation, Chiropractic students undergo an intensive and closely supervised internship program at a Chiropractic College Clinic, where they gain and perfect valuable skills and also learn when referral to other disciplines is warranted. Prior to being able to open their door to you, Chiropractors must pass rigorous National Licensing Board examinations.

To optimize the effects of treatment, stretching and strengthening programs are almost always initiated. As always, the choice to follow instructions plays a very important role in both recovery and long-term prognosis/outcome. Continuing with your individualized exercise program can help you minimize the occurrence of future episodes. This leaves you more time and energy to do the things you want to do.

Prior to meeting with the Chiropractor, you will be asked to complete a New Patient Admission Form. Using this form as a guide, you and the Chiropractor will discuss your health history in detail. This will be followed by a full physical examination. Your Chiropractor will then decide if further testing, such as x-rays or blood work, is required. You will then be presented with a report of findings, detailing your specific problem, treatment options and prognosis. Questions are always welcome. Your first visit includes time to initiate treatment if you decide chiropractic care is right for you. At the close of the visit, you will be given a few specific instructions to help make achieving your goal easier.

 

The choice to continue chiropractic care is always up to you. Although pain is the most common reason people initially go to the Chiropractor, chiropractic treatment often helps people reach an improved state of health. They have less pain, greater freedom of movement, better sleeping patterns and an improved sense of well being. The daily rigors of life such as computer work, commuting, stress and lack of time for one’s self are hard on the body. Many people use chiropractic “maintenance care” to function at a better state of health. The frequency of treatment depends on other lifestyle factors such as exercise, stress reduction and nutrition to name a few.

This is one of the most common questions we are asked. To provide you with realistic expectations, many factors affecting your recovery time must be taken into consideration, including:

  • acute vs. chronic pain
  • first episode or recurrent problem
  • history of previous injuries
  • general health
  • general fitness level ( strength, flexibility and cardiovascular health)
  • poor postural hygiene
  • lifestyle (work, diet, sleep)
  • patient comprehension and compliance with recommendations
  • kept appointments
  • stress (physical/mental/chemical)
  • family history

These factors and your individual health goals combine to structure the frequency and duration of your care.

Pain is the last sign to show, but the first to go away

Dentists x-ray children at an early age to ensure no future permanent problems. Why wait until your child has pain before checking their spine? We maintain things like eyes, ears, and teeth because we see and use them on a daily basis. The spine is just as important

Nothing. All we do is align the spine, and allow the power of the body heal itself

Skull, Spine, and Ribs protect vital organs and tissue

Because you walk with more weight on one foot than the other due to spine being out of alignment

Spine Center logo