Office Policies

Drawing blood for tests that require patients to be fasting; EKG's, urine collections, vaccinations, or other patient activities that do not require the presence of a physician.
Telephone calls to speak directly to the Practitioners about lab or X-ray results, acute illnesses for which you may wish to be seen that same day, or other issues that can be discussed briefly.
Due to the large volume of telephone calls, we kindly request that these phone calls be limited to 3 minutes in duration so that other patients be allowed to speak to the Practitioners.
Please wait until after 9:00 AM to call for prescription refills.

Cash Payment Fee Schedule

We recognize the needs of patients who may be uninsured, have high deductibles, no coverage for preventive health examinations or the advantage of a flexible healthcare spending account. We have designed our "cash payment" fee schedule to meet the needs of these patients so they may be provided with healthcare at a reasonable cash rate.

Payment is required at the time of service. To be eligible for these rates, payment is required at the time of service, and we will not file a claim with insurance.

Preventive Health Exam - Recommended Standard Testing

Standard recommended exam and testing - additional tests may be recommended based on your health or family history. Your provider will discuss any additional testing with you prior to ordering additional test. Charges for the exam vary slightly by age of patient. Check the fees above for the preventive exam fee for your age.

Click here to see the pricing

Appointments

Regular office hours are from 8:45 AM to 4:45 PM, Monday through Friday. These hours are for visits with your provider by appointment only. If you must cancel an appointment, please notify the office as soon as possible so we may offer the time slot to another patient.

We prefer to schedule appointments in advance but we realize that situations arise that may require you to be seen on the day you call. We will make every effort to see established patients with acute problems on the day they call (in such instances, please emphasize to our receptionists that you wish to be seen that day). No-shows or cancellations less than 24 hours before appointments can cause particularly difficult problems for our office. Thus, patients will be billed for the time they had scheduled if they do not appear and have not canceled 24 hours prior to the appointment. Extenuating circumstances will be taken into consideration.

Follow-up appointments are occasionally necessary to allow us to assess efficacy of treatments and to allow us to consider other approaches that might not have occurred to us on the first visit. If you feel that a follow-up appointment is not indicated, please let our office know.

Prescription Refills

We prefer that you coordinate all your prescription refills during regular routine office visits.

However, we are available to authorize appropriate prescription refills from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday by calling the office. We prefer that you call a few days before your prescription is needed.

Refills may also be handled by contacting your local pharmacy, who in turn will call us to refill the request.

For local pharmacy refills, please make sure your message includes:

1. Your name

2. Your medicine dosage and frequency

3. Your telephone number

4. The telephone number for your pharmacy

Mail Order Prescription Refills

Many of our patients participate with mail order prescription plans. We have always tried to work with these plans on behalf of our patients. However, several of these plans have adopted policies and procedures which place too much demand on our staff's time and takes them away from patient care. These changes include: burdensome paperwork to fax prescriptions, refusing to contact us regarding prescription refills, keeping our staff on hold on the telephone for very long periods of time to phone in refill in formation, and refusing to accept prescription transfers from local pharmacies. We have thus implemented the following policies:

1. New prescriptions at the time of an office visit: Your physician will give you written prescriptions to mail to your plan. If your physician determines that you need to start the medication immediately, s/he will provide you with a second 14-day prescription to take to a local pharmacy.

2. New prescriptions by phone: There may be times that your physician prescribes something new for you over the phone. Any medication needed immediately will be called to a local pharmacy. Long term prescriptions or any prescriptions not needed immediately will be mailed to you to mail to your plan.

2. Refill prescriptions: you need to plan at least 2 weeks in advance. It is preferred that you send us a note with the medication refills you need, and a self-addressed stamped envelope. We will mail the prescriptions back to you. You may call our office and let us know you need a new written prescription to send to your mail order plan. If you are out of medication, we will call in a 14-day supply to a local pharmacy if the physician determines that you need the medication immediately. In this case, you will pay additional out-of-pocket expenses to use the local pharmacy to get this 14-day supply, so it is best to plan ahead.

Any time a physician gives a prescription to a patient at the time of the visit, we do not also call in or fax it into the pharmacy, since this again takes away from our staff's time from patient care.

Emergency Calls

Your medical care through our group does not stop when our office closes. By calling our office at (703) 525-8863 or (703) 573-9800, you will be able to reach us 24 hours a day year round. You may leave a message we will get the next working day or you may leave a message on our emergency line that we will receive within approximately 15 minutes. Please follow the computerized answering service directions closely.

All routine matters should be handled during regular office hours. However, a physician from our group can be reached at all times. If you believe your situation is critical, always go to an emergency room or the nearest medical facility and ask the physicians there to contact our office. Otherwise, call our office first before going to a clinic or emergency room - many problems can be handled over the telephone.

Insurance Plans/Payment

Today's health insurance policies and coverage offer more options (and confusion) than ever. Each patient is responsible for knowing his or her plan's benefits package, co-payment, deductible, non-covered services, and restrictions. Many plans have participating or preferred Practitioners. We participate in most area health plans.

Aetna - all plants (HMO/POS/EPO/QPOS/MC/PPO)
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield
(formerly Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia) BlueCare and KeyCare
Alliance PPO (a MAMSI health plan)
Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program
Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO BluePreferred and BlueChoice (we are Preferred Practitioners)
Cigna HMO/PPO
GEHA
First Health
Georgetown Health Plan
Great West (formerly One Health Plan)
MAMSI Life & Health
M.D.IPA (a MAMSI health plan)
Medicare
Optimum Choice (a MAMSI health plan)
PHCS (Private Healthcare Systems)
Unicare
United Healthcare
Tricare/CHAMPUS

Health Coverage Categories

PPO: Some PPOs require subscribers to select a primary care physician and to have a referral from that physician before seeing any specialist. PPO subscribers are given a Directory of Preferred Practitioners who are plan participants (subscribers may have an option to see doctors who are not in this network of Practitioners, but the option will be at a different benefit level). PPO policies usually require a co-payment by the patient that is due at the time of each visit. The co-pay amount appears on your insurance card. We will collect your co-payment and bill your PPO plan. After the claim has been processed, we will send you a statement for any balance due from you. If your PPO does not have a co-pay, we will file with your plan and send you a statement for any balance due.

HMO: HMO plans require that patients have a primary care physician who is on the HMO list of doctors. HMOs also require a referral from your Practitioners before you can seek health care (including X-ray, lab, or specialty services) from any other provider. If you seek such care on your own, we will not provide referrals. We are not allowed to provide retroactive referrals. A co-pay due at time of service is required for every visit. There may be services that are "non-covered" by your HMO and you should be familiar with those. If any non-covered service is provided, payment is due at the end of your visit.

Indemnity/Commercial Insurance Plans: For patients with such coverage, we collect 20% or 30% of charges at the end of your visit and file a claim with your plan on your behalf. Because you are ultimately responsible for payment, you should contact your plan if it does not pay your claim. You will receive a statement from us until the account is paid in full.

For patients without insurance coverage, payment is expected at the time of service unless other arrangements are made in advance.

Medical Info