OFFICE POLICIES

Calls During Office Hours
Patients may call the office with any questions. The staff will answer non-clinical questions, including billing inquiries. For medical related questions or problems, the staff is not permitted to give any advice over the phone, unless instructed by the physician.

Please keep in mind when leaving messages during office hours, our priority is with the patients being seen in the office. Calls for Dr. Riccardo during office hours will be returned once he finishes seeing patients in the office.

Calls After Office Hours
If you become acutely ill or have a change in your medical condition after office hours, you may call the office for advice.  If it is a medical emergency call 911 or go to the closest hospital emergency room for immediate medical attention.  Our phones are answered after hours by an answering service. The answering service will take a message and forward your message and contact information to Dr. Riccardo or to Dr. Leonard Giunta, who also covers on call.

Please note: When you are waiting for a doctor to return your call after hours, it is recommended that you inactivate the feature on your phone that may block calls from anonymous numbers. For privacy purposes, the doctors have this feature on their home and mobile phones.

Prescriptions
For your safety, it is the policy that no new medication will be prescribed without being seen in the office. Furthermore, it is the doctor’s general policy not to phone in antibiotic prescriptions. If you feel you require an antibiotic, we highly encourage you to first be examined.

For medical chronic conditions, we will refill prescriptions requests during normal business hours. You may leave a prescription refill request on our prescription refill line. Please allow up to two (2) working days for your refill request to be called into the pharmacy.

Please note: At the doctor’s discretion, you may be required to have follow-up care before receiving a medication refill for chronic illness.

Medical Records
All medical records request must be made in writing. There will be a $25 charge for sending medical records to another physician in the event that you are changing primary care physicians. This fee covers the administrative time and materials necessary to create and send a copy of your medical record. Also, all existing balances must be paid in full prior to your request for medical records being fulfilled.  In a workers compensation or accident case, there will be a fee charged to any legal or medical insurance review agency requesting a copy of your medical record.

PAYMENT POLICIES

Insurance Plans/Payment Responsibility
Our insurance plan mix continues to change. It is your responsibility to call your insurance provider to ensure that
Dr. Riccardo is an approved provider before you are seen in the office. If we are not a listed provider, we will be happy to submit a claim for your visit but you will be responsible to pay for the visit at the time of service regardless of your insurance coverage or reimbursement arrangement.

To review the Assignment of Benefits form that must be reviewed and signed before your first office visit, please click here.

Co-payments and Deductibles
Your insurance plan may require you to pay a co-payment and/or meet a yearly deductible. We expect these payments at the time of service. Co-payments are a contractual obligation between you, your health plan, and MillTown Family Medicine. If the co-payment or yearly deductible obligation is not met, your insurance plan has the right to deny the charges. This may leave you responsible for the services rendered during your visit. We accept cash, VISA, and MasterCard.

Overdue Balances
You will be notified about overdue balances for two (2) billing cycles. At that point, you will receive a phone call and a letter detailing your debt obligation. Balances that are not resolved at that point may be turned over to a collection agency. You will be responsible for all collection and legal fees.