Office Policies and Procedures
CONFIDENTIALITY. Communications are confidential and generally no information will be released without your consent. Exceptions: By law, I am required to report suspected child or elder abuse, domestic violence, and take action when a patient is considered to be a danger to themselves or to others.
INSURANCE. Dr. Lin is not a provider for any insurance companies and provides “out-of-network”, fee-for-service care. Dr. Lin does not contract or negotiate claims with insurance companies. You are responsible for payment of your medical care at the time of the appointment. With the exception of Medicare beneficiaries, you may request a superbill for submission to your insurance company for direct reimbursement if you have out-of-network benefits.
MEDICARE. Dr. Lin has Opted Out of Medicare. If you are a Medicare beneficiary, you will need to sign a private contract agreeing not to submit your visit receipts to Medicare.
PAYMENTS. Payment is always due at the time of service. Accepted forms of payment include cash, Visa, MasterCard, Venmo, and checks. Your credit card on file will automatically be charged at the time of your visit if you do not pay by cash, checks, or Venmo.
CREDIT CARD ON FILE. A valid credit card on file must be maintained.
RETURNED CHECKS. Your credit card on file will be charged for the amount of your returned check plus a $30 fee.
OUTSTANDING BALANCES. We prefer to spend time on clinical matters and caring for patients. Please understand that nonpayment for services rendered or missed appointments is cause for termination of care. Your credit card on file will be automatically charged for outstanding balances not paid at the time of service. Accounts with balances more than 30 days past due will be charged late fees. Accounts with balances more than 2 months past due may be turned over to a collection agency and reported to credit bureaus.
APPOINTMENTS. All office visits are by appointment only. Please be on time for your appointment as your appointment time is reserved for you. If you are late we still end at the scheduled time.
AUTOMATED FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENT REMINDERS. Please note that automated appointment reminders are offered as a courtesy only. As technical failures can occur, it is still your responsibility to keep track of your scheduled appointments, whether or not you receive a reminder. In addition, please note that such communications may be insecure. Do not reply to the automated messages as it will not be received.
MISSED/RESCHEDULED/CANCELLED APPOINTMENTS WITH INSUFFICIENT ADVANCE NOTICE. While we understand that schedules can change, because our visits are by appointment only, when someone misses an appointment, it creates a missed opportunity for another patient to be seen.
– Advanced cancellation notice of more than 48 business hours (Mon-Thurs) NOT including weekends or holidays for all visits is required.
– Your credit card on file will automatically be charged for any missed/rescheduled/canceled appointments with less than 48 business hours notice at the full session fee. This means that an appointment starting at 11:00 am on Tuesday needs to be canceled before 11:00 am on the Thursday before in order to avoid being charged.
PRESCRIPTIONS REFILL REQUESTS. In order to continue to prescribe a medication, Dr. Lin needs to see you regularly to review progress, side effects, and potentially make adjustments. Please bear in mind that this is for your safety.
Prescriptions and refills take place during regularly scheduled appointments and are meant to last until your next visit. Please anticipate any medication refill needs prior to your appointment and address them with Dr. Lin during the time of your visit. If you are running low on your current medication(s), it is likely that you are near or past due for a follow-up appointment so please contact the office immediately to schedule an appointment.
Between-Visit refills and prescriptions are $20 (non-controlled medication prescribing) and $50 (controlled medication prescribing) – if the patient missed, postponed, or is overdue for a regularly scheduled visit. Unscheduled refills require doctors to take time to review patient records, decide if a refill is appropriate, document the reasons for the refill, and contact the pharmacy and/or patient. To avoid this situation, patients should address medication refill needs during scheduled appointments. All refill requests between scheduled appointments require at least 72 business hours advance notice and are NOT done on weekends or holidays.
Patients not seen for over 3 months or have missed 2 consecutive appointments will need to be seen for a re-evaluation before medications can be refilled.
DISCONTINUATION OF TREATMENT. Treatment may be discontinued for:
– Failure to pay for services rendered
– Non-compliance with the recommended treatment
– Frequent cancellations and/or missed appointments
– Need for a higher level of care (e.g. engaging in self-harm, intent to harm self or others, being unable to care for oneself due to mental illness, excessive substance use/dependence, etc..)